Natural product–derived drugs for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)

Abstract Natural product has been known in centuries for treating human diseases. Of these, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) consist of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which causes chronic inflammation of gastrointestinal tract. Natural products provide substantial therapeutic and medicinal properties. There are numerous types of bioactive compounds including alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, phenolics and polyphenols, saponins, tannins, terpenes, anthraquinones, essential oils, and steroids to be used as source of drug derivatives against IBD. So far, there are numbers of plants likely to be more potent, and no significant adverse effects are reported in the treatment of IBD. Herbal medicine provides a beneficial alternative treatment to the patients and clinical specialists. Botanical drugs have been preferred by patients due to their efficacy, safety, and comparatively low cost, which can significantly improve in the disease population. Therefore natural products can serve as source of both preventive and curative lead compounds to achieve more novel drug discovery, particularly anti-IBD agents in the future.