An Evidence-based Systematic Review of Pleiotropic Potential Health Benefits of <i>Sorghum bicolor</i> Supplement: A Polyphenol-rich Derivative of the Leaf Sheaths of <i>Sorghum</i> Plant

Abstract

Globally, across different cultures, humans have historically depended largely on medicinal plants for managing diseases that have hitherto threatened their optimal health, survival, and longevity. Evidently, the health-derived benefits of medicinal plants have been strongly attributed to the presence of secondary metabolites, particularly polyphenols. The potential health benefits of the leaf sheaths of the West African variety of Sorghum bicolor-based Jobelyn Supplement (SBJS) have also been ascribed to its high contents of polyphenols. This systematic review seeks to synthetically harmonize findings from various experimental and clinical studies on the health benefits of SBJS in different disease conditions including arthritis, cancer, chronic viral infections, stroke, anaemia, and premature aging. A systematic search was conducted using three primary databases (PubMed, Europe PMC, and Cochrane Library), to identify published articles on therapeutic potentials of SBJS and ethnomedicinal surveys on the application of the West African variety of S. bicolor using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) standard. The inclusion criteria were experimental and clinical studies conducted on SBJS and West African variety of S. bicolor; while ethnomedicinal surveys were on the therapeutic uses of the West African variety of S. bicolor published in the English language. The review provides valuable information suggesting that SBJS possesses pleiotropic therapeutic potentials in diverse pathological conditions through mechanisms relating to antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, chemopreventive, and neuroprotective activities. The review also showed that SBJS contains several bioactive substances with polyvalent pharmacological potentials including modulation of pathological mechanisms involved in the mediation of aging and age-related diseases, such as arthritis, stroke, memory loss and cancer as well as chronic viral infections. Taken together, these findings further suggest the need for more robust studies (including disease-specific clinical trial programs) in order to replicate and validate the prior insights gleaned from previous investigations on SBJS.