African Medicinal Plants

  mEDICINAL pLANTS AND tRADTIONAL mEDICINE NEWS AWARENESS OF EXPORT POTENTIAL OF HERBS IS LOW IN INDIA: NPMB Despite conducive environment, growing demand and a rich heritage, India's share in the global herbal market remains much below potential   According to a government report, the global herbal market is expected to grow steadily in the coming years with growing demand for herbal products worldwide. The Ministry of Science and Technology says in its report that the global herbal market is expected to be grow to around $5 trillion by 2050, but India's current share is estimated at below 2%. The report adds that herbal remedies are important in countries like China and would become increasingly important in developing countries like India in the coming years. Standardisation is a bottleneck that has gained some attention among companies producing herbal products across the world. However, efforts are required to develop the cultivation of ...

IF you are reading this, then you either know or have parents who know what we are all missing in refusing to use our available locally grown (behind the house little garden) plants. For most, when they see or hear of “medicinal plants” they see native doctors or plants made for those who cannot afford the orthodox medicine. I often find this amusing especially coming from learned people who should understand that most medicines did not fall from the skies or are products of chemical analysis but rather are plant based.       Granted, there is a recent increase in the interest and use of natural products and herbal supplements/teas, but this is often just a faze which is ignited when a multi-level marketing international company storms the market with products, and which naturally losses momentum after a given number of users have tried it out. Another indication of the fact that Nigerians are ready to embrace the herbal trend is the increasing preference for gre...

Life-saving medicinal plants under threat from biodiversity erosion As global efforts to prevent biodiversity depletion focus more on fauna than flora, experts call for guidelines to protect against the threatened loss of life-saving plants. Uprooted, over-harvested, trampled or brashly ignored by the wider world, plants are the unsung heroes of modern medicine. Since time immemorial, species with healing properties have been called upon and indeed relied upon to treat the sick and injured. And although our modern day brave new world of medical possibility bears little resemblance to the slower pace of ancient indigenous cures, it has not rendered our reliance on the vegetation that coats our earth, obsolete. On the contrary, medicinal plants continue to play an integral role in the protection of human health. Yet seemingly unmoved by this dynamic, humans largely fail to return that protective favor. "Medicinal plants don't have a voice," Manoj Kumar Sarka...

Date palm, bitter kola, zobo top local herbal ‘cures’ for Yuletide blues T 0 Comments Today is Christmas. The Yuletide is here again. The season is synonymous with over indulgence in alcohol, food and sex. Hangover, weight gain and sexually transmitted infections such as Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) become the order of the day. But scientists have validated bitter kola, date palm, zobo, grapefruit, among others as ‘cures’ for hangover and to prevent weight gain. They advise against unprotected sex and promiscuity, and recommend being faithful to one partner and the use of condom. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes. THE temptation to drink and get intoxicated with alcohol is high especially during festive periods. The habit, however, comes with the resultant hangover.      Hangover is the experience of various unpleasant physiological and psychological effects following consumption of alcoholic beverages, which can last for more than 24 hours.    ...

Chinese licorice fights diabetes and obesity By  Revathi Siva Kumar ( writer@newseveryday.com ) - 24  Dec '14 09:41AM SHARE ( 5 ) SHARE ( 4 ) Licorice can be used to bring down diabetes and fat. A simple herb known for 4,000 years as a part of the 'Glycyrrhiza plants', or licorice, has gone under the name of 'natural sweeteners' or 'herbal medicines'. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology published a new study by researchers, who find that licorice could also reduce or stop metabolic disorders, according to naturalnews.com. Its compound, isoliquiritigenin (ILG), could prevent high-fat, diet-related obesity, fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes by aborting a protein involved in them. In an experiment, some subjects were given a high-fat diet, while others consumed a normal one. Those who complained of "diet-related obesity, type 2 diabetes and hepatic steatosis" (fatty liver disease) have benefitted, as their disorders...