Frankincense: systematic review

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2813

Published 17 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2813
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2813

Research

Christmas 2008: Seasonal Fayre

Frankincense: systematic review

E Ernst, professor

¹ Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, Exeter EX2 4NT, UK

edzard.ernst{at}pms.ac.uk

Objective To assess evidence from randomised clinical trialsabout the effectiveness of extracts of Boswellia serrata (frankincense).

Design Systematic review.

Data sources Electronic searches on Medline, Embase, Cinahl,Amed, and Cochrane Library. Hand searches of conference proceedings,bibliographies, and departmental files.

Review methods All randomised clinical trials of B serrata extractas a treatment for any human medical condition were includedand studies of B serrata preparations combined with other ingredientswere excluded. Titles and abstracts of all retrieved articleswere read and hard copies of all relevant articles were obtained.Selection of studies, data extraction and validation were doneby the author. The Jadad score was used to evaluate the methodologicalquality of all included trials.

Results Of 47 potentially relevant studies, seven met all inclusioncriteria (five placebo controlled, two with active controls).The included trials related to asthma, rheumatoid arthritis,Crohn’s disease, osteoarthritis, and collagenous colitis.Results of all trials indicated that B serrata extracts wereclinically effective. Three studies were of good methodologicalquality. No serious safety issues were noted.

Conclusions The evidence for the effectiveness of B serrataextracts is encouraging but not compelling.

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