Jollab: A Safe Remedy for Functional Dyspepsia in Persian Medicine

With lots of interest, we read the paper by Ebrahimzadeh Attari et al.1 In this valuable investigation, the beneficial effects of ginger in eradication of Helicobacter pylori and improvement of functional dyspepsia symptoms have been revealed. Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common annoying disorder without any approved medication for its treatment; although, some “off-label” treatments including antidepressants are commonly used.2 The mind-gut relation and possible beneficial effect of antidepressants in FD has been the subject of several studies. However, these drugs are not completely safe and may induce significant side effects especially in the older patients.3 Since a long time ago, old comprehensive medical schools including Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Persian Medicine (PM) have acknowledged this mind-gut relation through their holistic viewpoints toward health and human well-being. For instance, Avicenna (980–1037 AD) who is a well-known Persian sage of Islamic Golden Age,4 has mentioned the importance of psychiatric components in the emergence of FD symptoms in the “Canon of Medicine”. In this regard, the proposed management of dyspepsia in PM, similar to other holistic medical schools, is not only toward the gastrointestinal tract, but also consider the interventions targeting the mind and psychological affairs.5,6