Nutraceuticals for Wound Healing: A Special Focus on Chromolaena odorata as Guardian of Health with Broad Spectrum of Biological Activities

Abstract

Nutraceuticals are any material, either whole or in part, that may be considered a hybrid of nutrition and pharmaceuticals. This special characteristic, aside from providing good health, leads to treatment of wounds and prevention of certain diseases. Nutraceuticals have gained significant attention due to their presumed safety and promising nutritional and therapeutic outcomes. An important aspect of the use of traditional medicinal remedies in the treatment of burns and wounds is the potential to improve healing and reduce downtime in order to ease the financial burden on the affected patients and their families. Although several medicinal plants and their pharmaceutical preparations/formulations are available for wound care and management, it remains necessary to search for efficacious treatments, as certain current formulations cause adverse effects or lack efficacy. Several herbal medicines have displayed marked activity in the management of wounds, and various natural compounds/extracts have verified in vivo wound healing potential; therefore they are considered as potential drugs of natural origin. C. odorata is considered a tropical weed. It exhibits numerous relevant medicinal properties on an appreciable scale and is known in some parts of the world as a traditional medicine used to treat various ailments. Besides the above, volatile oils of the plant are considered a possible source of a nutraceutical to be used for clinical purposes. To understand its precise role as nature's gift for healing wounds and its contribution to affordable health care, this plant must be scientifically assessed based on the available literature. This is crucial to its potential future drug design, development, and application for the treatment of wounds in both animal and human medicine and cost-effective health care.