Herbal Remedies for Osteoporosis Are Safe and Effective: South Korean Research

A woman weighs traditional Chinese herbs at a medicine shop in Beijing, China, in November, 2006. Guang Niu/Getty Images

Osteoporosis, literally “porous bone,” is often called a silent disease because many people do not realize they have it until they break a bone. One in three women and one in five men over 50 will suffer a broken bone due to osteoporosis, according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation.

Treatments used by Western medicine to treat osteoporosis often cause undesirable side effects. There may be an alternative, however. In recent years, research by experts in traditional Korean medicine has shown that herbal medicine can treat osteoporosis safely and effectively, without the side effects of Western treatments.

Osteoporosis is a complex bone disease characterized by low bone density and microstructural damage to bone tissue, resulting in increased bone fragility and fracture susceptibility. Osteoporotic fracture is a common occurrence among middle-aged and elderly people. Osteoporosis is characterized by high morbidity, high mortality rates, and high medical costs.

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Western medicine uses several types of drugs to treat osteoporosis, with the main treatment strategy being estrogen and bisphosphonate therapy. However, long-term estrogen therapy can increase the risk of cancer, blood clots, and stroke. Bisphosphonate therapy is associated with atypical femur fractures,  jaw necrosis, hypocalcemia, and esophageal cancer.

Added to the list of side effects are unpleasant short-term side effects including joint pain, headaches, indigestion, fever, and flu like symptoms.

In an interview on Dec. 13, Lee Soo-chil, director of Myeongje Korean Medicine Clinic in South Korea, spoke to The Epoch Times about herbal treatments for osteoporosis.

Lee stressed that traditional Korean medicine can effectively treat osteoporosis without unpleasant side effects. Herbal treatment can improve the body’s ability to grow and repair healthy bones. Optimizing the inner body environment according to the individual’s condition—including the osteoblasts, osteoclasts, osteogenic signal transmitters such as sex hormones and growth hormones, as well as the basic components of the bones—will enable bones to repair themselves.

Lee discussed a variety of treatments used by traditional Korean medicine to treat osteoporosis, including water hyssop (bacopa monnieri), eucommia, deer antler, and cuscuta (commonly known as dodder). These treatments increase the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC). They improve the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and mineral formation, stimulating bone growth, protecting osteoblasts and BMSC from apoptosis caused by oxidative stress, and inhibiting the production of osteoclasts and bone resorption to achieve an anti-osteoporosis effect.

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Several other herbs have been highlighted by Korean researchers in recent years for their ability to treat osteoporosis.

According to researchers at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University, animal studies have shown that extracts of the herbs Schisandra chinensis, Lyceum chinensis (which produces the goji berry), and Eucommia ulmoides can restore bone density and increase the concentration of osteocalcin in the blood. Further, they can restore collagen type 1 and bone growth factors such as bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), and osteopontin (OPN), improving osteoporosis. The researchers published their findings in March 2021 in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

A research group including researchers from Kyung Hee University and the Korean Institute of Herbal Medicine confirmed that the herb He Shou Wu (also known as tuber fleece flower or Chinese knotweed) improves osteoporosis by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts that cause the disease. The effect of He Shou Wu steamed in black bean juice is particularly significant. The paper was published on April 25, 2020, in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

In addition, a joint study by researchers at Seoul’s Jaseng Joint Spine and Research Institute and the University of Seoul’s Natural Materials Research Center has confirmed the anti-osteoporosis effect of the active chemical—harpogoside—contained in the herb harpagophytum procumbens (also known as devil’s claw).

In experiments conducted in rats, the chemical improved bone formation through osteoblast proliferation, alkaline phosphate hydrolase activity, and photochemical stimulation in osteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1) involving osteogenesis and regeneration. The compound also increased the expression of genes and proteins involved in protein synthesis. In addition, it significantly increased the bone density of the femur. The paper was published in the Journal of Natural Products on Jan. 20, 2017. It received the 2017 Arthur E. Schwarting Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy in July 2018.