Use of three peruvian medicinal plants and their scientific support

Abstract

Medical sciences have evolved in terms of understanding the origins of different diseases and the development of their treatments. However, people from some Peruvian communities still prefer the use of medicinal plants as the first alternative to improving their health. Even though this cultural practice seems to have positive results, the properties attributed to herbs are transmitted orally, often without any scientific argument to support them. Thus, some native plant species of Peru used for medicinal purposes have been of interest in the study of effectiveness, in view of their cultural use, showing results of great importance for medical, pharmaceutical, anthropological and agronomic sciences. In this sense, the present review collected the scientific information currently available on plants used for medicinal purposes in Peru, thus responding to the hypothesis that there is a scientific explanation about the medicinal properties of many Peruvian plants, mainly in biological sciences. To this end, different sources of information in the areas of anthropology, medicine and plant physiology were consulted, found with the help of academic search engines according to previously determined identifiers. The texts were chosen considering the journal’s impact factor, the strength of the evidence found and the contribution to responding to the objective of the present review. In this way, it was found that some medicinal properties, for which some plant species are used by Peruvians, are supported by medical science and that secondary metabolites are mainly responsible for their benefits. Due to the usefulness of this information, it is recommended to continue studies on the large number of medicinal plant species existing in Peruvian lands.