Abstract

Introduction: Many herbs and spices have anticancer properties, which can be effective in different stages of growth of cancer cells and onset of cancer. There are many studies in the field of anticancer herbs and their efficacy in treatment of cancer. Many articles have been published in this regard but no review paper was found on this topic. Method and material: The present study aimed to review the studies on anticancer herbs. Such Keywords as plants, anticancer, traditional medicine and Iran were searched for in the articles published in such databases as Pub Med, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, Iranmedex, SID and Magiran by 2000. Found articles were studied. The results were statistically analyzed. Results: The results showed that such plants as Catharanthus roseus, ginseng, Peganum harmalal (Esfand), Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle), Silybum marianum (milk thistle), Camellia sinensis (green tea), Trachyspermum copticum L. (ajwain), Hypericum perforatum (St. Johns), Rosa damascene, Zingiber adans and Lagenaria siceraria (calabash) are the most useful anticancer herbs. Conclusion: The results showed that such plants as Catharanthus roseus, ginseng, Peganum harmalal (Esfand), Hibiscus sabdariffa (Roselle), Silybum marianum (milk thistle), Camellia sinensis (green tea), Trachyspermum copticum L. (ajwain), Hypericum perforatum (St. Johns), Rosa damascene, Zingiber adans and Lagenaria siceraria (calabash)) are the most useful anticancer herbs. © 2017, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved.