Chinese herbal medicine for treatment of dislipidemia

Prevalence of dislipidemia is increasing rapidly in China and there has been a growing interest in Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of hyperlipidemia both inside and outside China. In this article, lipids regulating effects of 9 herbs or their extracts and 5 herbal formulae which have been published in English-language literature are reviewed. Although evidence from animals and humans consistently supports the therapeutic activities of these Chinese herbal medicines, few multi-center large-scale clinical trials have been conducted to confirm the efficacy and evaluate their safety.