Relationship Between Temperaments of Herbal Diuretics and Their Effects Based on Avicenna s Teaching

this is a letter to editor.There is growing interest in the health benefits of botanical diuretics. (1-2) Avicenna (980-1037 AD), the foremost Iranian physician, introduced numerous herbs as diuretics in his renowned book of Canon of Medicine. (3)Avicenna and his followers have recommended herbal diuretics for most ailments accompanied by fluid superabundance like lassitude, oedema, and ascites. (4) It was believed that diuretic herbs cause the excretion of the body’s waste through the urine and cleanse body fluid from putrefaction. (3) In the concept of Avicenna diuretic botanicals act as a specific carrier for urogenital drugs which facilitate drug delivery to the urinary system. He has mentioned that some herbal diuretics are lithotriptic and can expel deposited materials through urine, thus preventing kidney calculi. (5)