Plants Secondary Metabolites as Medicines: A Review

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the most important source of life saving drugs for the majority of the world’s population. Plants are an important source for the discovery of new products of medicinal value for drug development as they produce a wide variety of secondary metabolites which serve them as defense compounds against herbivores and microbes. Secondary metabolites produced by plants do not aid in the growth and development of plants but are required for the plants to survive in its environment. They have been described as antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral and they are able to protect plants from pathogens. Products isolated from them have been used to treat infections, health disorders or diseases. In modern medicine, they provided lead compounds for the production of medications for treating various diseases from migraine up to cancer. This review deals with the Pharmacological activity and important functions of secondary metabolites in valuable medicinal herbs as Antimalarial, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Antiulcer, Antiinflammatory, Antimicrobial.