Effects of Medicinal Plants on Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review

Urinary incontinence is one of the disorders that may develop for various reasons, affect different aspects of life, and declining quality of life. Relevant key terms were used to retrieve the articles published between 2000 and 2018 and indexed in the Institute for Scientific Information and PubMed. Then, the articles about the medicinal plants and the plant-based products whose effects were investigated on urinary incontinence (UI) were selected and analyzed by two members of the research team. Different plants such as Cannabis sativa, St. John's wort, Ephedra sinica, Salvia sclarea, Ramulus Cinnamomi, and Alpinia oxyphylla exert anti-UI effects through various mechanisms. The phytoestrogen derivatives of the plants mainly in menopausal women, isoflavonoid compounds, Gosha-jinki-gan, and Weng-li-tong, exert anti-UI effects. It should be considered that plants and their derivatives can be used as dietary supplements, independently, and mainly with chemical drugs. Plants and plant-based combinations can induce anti-UI effects through phytosterogenic properties in women, decreasing stress and affecting the neuromuscular system as well as decreasing the activities of the detrusor muscle and regulating the activity of the urethral sphincters.