Gastrointestinal disorders are common childhood complaints. Particular types of complementary and alternative medicine, such as herbal medicine, are commonly used among children. Research information on efficacy, safety, or dosage forms is still lacking.
To systematically summarize effectiveness and safety of different herbal treatment options for gastrointestinal disorders in children.
Medline/PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library were searched through July 15, 2016.
Randomized controlled trials comparing herbal therapy with no treatment, placebo, or any pharmaceutical medication in children and adolescents (aged 0-18 years) with gastrointestinal disorders were eligible.
Two authors extracted data on study design, patients, interventions, control interventions, results, adverse events, and risk of bias.
Fourteen trials with 1927 participants suffering from different acute and functional gastrointestinal disorders were included in this review. Promising evidence for effectiveness was found for Potentilla erecta, carob bean juice, and an herbal compound preparation including Matricaria chamomilla in treating diarrhea. Moreover, evidence was found for peppermint oil in decreasing duration, frequency, and severity of pain in children suffering from undifferentiated functional abdominal pain. Furthermore, evidence for effectiveness was found for different fennel preparations (eg, oil, tea, herbal compound) in treating children with infantile colic. No serious adverse events were reported.
Few studies on specific indications, single herbs, or herbal preparations could be identified.
Because of the limited number of studies, results have to be interpreted carefully. To underpin evidence outlined in this review, more rigorous clinical trials are needed.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
15
9%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
4
2%
Social Sciences
4
2%
Other
17
10%
Unknown
77
44%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 181. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 January 2026.
All research outputs
#275,152
of 34,054,827 outputs
Outputs from Pediatrics
#1,242
of 22,537 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,577
of 364,308 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Pediatrics
#33
of 181 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,054,827 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 22,537 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 46.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 364,308 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 181 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.
