Diseases & Conditions

Ailments, Diseases & Conditions

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 80 percent of the world's population still relies mainly on herbal medicine for primary health care - especially in developing nations and rainforest countries. People in tropical forests around the world have utilized the plants growing in their backyards as part of their primary health care systems for millennia. In fact, archaeologists have discovered the remains of plants used as medicine at archaeological dig sites in Latin and South America dating back to 8000 B.C. In the northwestern Amazon alone, at least 1,300 plant species are used to create drogas do certao or "wilderness drugs" for the primary health care needs in the region today - many of which have never been subjected to any type of scientific research yet.

Traditional uses of medicinal plants can be very important, especially to researchers and drug companies. If a plant has been used in a specific way for a specific purpose for many years and in many different geographical areas, there is probably a reason for it. It is this rapidly growing industry (called ethnobotany) that helps scientists target which plants to research first and what to study them for. Indigenous people originally discovered the medicinal uses of three-quarters of the plant-derived drugs in use today.

Let's face it, pharmaceutical drugs aren't getting any cheaper and most are out of the financial reach of a peasant or farmer in the Amazon who earns the equivalent of $50 U.S. monthly to support a family of seven. That doesn't mean he and his family can't afford to be sick, or aren't faced with many of the same illnesses and maladies as people in developed nations. What it does mean is that plant-based medicines are often the most accessible and appropriate therapy for a wide diversity of health problems experienced by rural and rainforest inhabitants. Oftentimes, this population cultivate and transplant wild medicinal plants in and around their homes and villages that are employed to treat common fevers, fungal infections, respiratory problems, pain, gastrointestinal problems and even antidotes for poisonous snake bites, among many others health problems they are faced with. But it also doesn't mean that many wouldn't rather have a convenient aspirin or two to take for a simple headache occasionally instead of going through the time consuming steps of harvesting some leaves, bark or roots out of the forest and boiling it into a headache tea remedy. The sad fact is that even aspirin can be unavailable or too expensive for some forest dwellers.

This guide serves as a quick reference for matching a disorder or condition to the plants that have been used in tropics, developing nations, and in the rainforests to treat it. Diseases commonly found in developing nations lacking adequate immunization programs and other specific tropical diseases are found in the following list for this reason as well. This information has been provided as a summary of historical medicinal uses for the plants by disease and condition. It is NOT any medical claim that the plants have been scientifically or clinically proven to cure or effectively treat these listed diseases or conditions in any way. This information was compiled, cataloged and condensed from more than 500 published sources of documentation referenced in the Notes section of this book. It is for informational purposes and to provide a beginning point to categorize and cross-reference the extensive information provided in section 3. It also shouldn't suggest that these plants are more effective or suitable to treat these conditions than other westernized drugs or products which might be available here in the U.S. but not available in the countries where these plants grow and where their history of medicinal use has been recorded. Sometimes it really is just easier and better to take an aspirin to relieve the occasional headache (if you have access to it and can afford it). Just because traditional herbal medicine and herbal remedies are often used in the Amazon and other remote areas to replace conventional medicine and drugs due to socioeconomic factors or simple unavailability, it is not advisable to use them here to replace or avoid proper medical care and drugs that could be beneficial. Again, conventional medicine and traditional medicine systems should ideally play complementary roles in health care. . . one should not substitute the other.

If you are looking for natural remedies for a serious medical disease or condition, please, always seek the advice and help of qualified professionals. There are many health professionals available these days with practical medical training as well as education and experience with medicinal plants, supplements, nutrition and dietary recommendations. Find one. Books like this one, as well as the internet, are good places to begin your research - especially when looking up and verifying both conventional and complementary products, therapies, treatments and drugs. However, don't start and end there. Get qualified help and advice from experienced health professionals that can combine the best products and therapies into an effective and comprehensive treatment program which combines the best of both health systems and practices to help you. Please always remember too, many medicinal plants (including those featured in this book) have active biological properties and active chemicals which should be treated with care, respect and knowledge. Some are not without side effects and most have little data on them about their suitability and contraindications in combination with the many pharmaceutical drugs that are commonly and routinely prescribed here in the U.S.

The plants are listed below in preferred order of which are best for the condition indicated based on practitioner observation and use.

The information provided in Raintree's Tropical Plant Database is intended and provided for education, research, entertainment, and information purposes only. This information is not intended to be used to diagnose, prescribe or replace proper medical care. The plants described in the Tropical Plant Database are not intended to treat, cure, diagnose, mitigate or prevent any disease and no medical claims are made. Please refer to our Conditions of Use for using this plant database and web site.

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