Chinese medicinal plant relieves arthritis

Chinese medicinal plant relieves rheumatoid arthritis

30/04/2014

The Chinese medicinal plant Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (German: Wilfords three-winged fruit) could be used in future in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A study from China showed that it is as effective as methotrexate, the current standard of therapy for RA.

The medicinal and poisonous plant is already approved according to the study authors in China for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is used to treat joint pain, swelling and inflammation.

The Chinese researchers had followed more than 200 patients with rheumatoid arthritis for 24 weeks and evaluated their symptoms. The subjects were divided into three groups. One group received 12.5 milligrams of methotrexate once a week, the second three times a day 20 milligrams of Wilford's three-winged fruit, and the third group a combination of both.

In methotrexate, symptom severity was halved in 46% of patients. When taking the plant preparation, the symptoms decreased by 50% in 55% of the patients. Almost 77% of patients benefited from the combination of the two remedies. The abstract of the study can be found here. (Pm)

Image: Michael Wolf, Wikipedia