Middle Eastern Herbal Medicines in the Management of Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is considered a major worldwide problem that is estimated to affect a quarter of the world population, due to lack of physical activity and high-calorie nutrition. In the Middle East, the prevalence of MetS is increasing at an alarming rate, especially in urban areas. People affected by MetS are most at risk for developing complications like diabetes, cardiovascular and renal diseases. MetS could be managed by either modification of lifestyle (through physical activity to restore energy balance), reduction of calorie intake, proper diet that is rich in fiber, increasing energy outlay, or using adequate medication. Herbal medicines are substances that are known to provide medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of diseases. Researchers have discovered many herbal medicines that are suggested to alleviate MetS and its complications via different mechanisms.

In the past few years, significant progress has been made in discovering different secondary metabolites associated with the management of MetS and treating its complications. Middle Eastern traditional medicine is now becoming a source of interest for MetS, with a wealthy pool of promising pharmacologically active metabolites showing evidence of healing/prevention of various human disorders and increasing longevity. The aim of this Research Topic is to gather new and creative work that covers the subject as thoroughly as possible and provide some useful directions for managing or solving complications of MetS in the Middle East using medicinal plants. We hope that this Research Topic will be of interest to students, scientists, and non-scientists alike that find the topics relevant to their work or life. It is also our hope that the Research Topic will add to the existing understanding, as well as generate interest in further studies in this area that may be useful for medical application.

We encourage researchers to submit their contributions under this Research Topic on the activity of traditional herbal medicines that could help manage and treat MetS and its complications.

We welcome submissions on the following subtopics, but not limited to:
• Evidence-based herbal medicine in the management of obesity.
• Structure-activity relationship of pharmacologically active metabolites in cardiovascular diseases.
• Phytomedicine in management of hypertension.
• Pharmaceutical formulation of pharmacologically active metabolites in cardiovascular diseases.
• Management of MetS and diabetes by different pharmacologically active metabolites.
• Medicinal plants in management of diabetes and diabetic complications.

---

One can find more information about the Article Types guidelines in the Ethnopharmacology section here).

All the manuscripts submitted to this project will be peer-reviewed and need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version here).

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome, Cardiovascular diseases, Obesity, Advanced glycation end-products, Diabetes, Middle East, Herbal medicines

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.