MEDICINAL PLANTS

Medicinal plants are called those plants used to treat diseases of people, animals or to heal injuries, and can be used whole or by specific parts. The curative or therapeutic action (relief or improvement) is due to the chemical substances that compose them, called active principles1 which are considered substances that exert a pharmacological, beneficial or harmful action on the living organism. The use of plants in traditional medicine dates back to prehistoric times, but current science has made it possible to identify, isolate and produce hundreds of active principles for the preparation of drugs used in the treatment of various diseases. However, the traditional use of medicinal plants still persists, especially in less industrialized societies with difficulties in accessing medicines. Thus, the World Health Organization (WHO) is organized to encourage the safe and rational use of traditional medicine, because not all medicinal plants are usually beneficial to the body, or the active principle must be carefully dosed. Medicinal plants are usually prepared in different ways such as infusions, cooked, in poultices or in salads for direct consumption. Pharmaceutical technology allows the application of certain extracts of medicinal plants in presentations such as capsules, tablets, creams and syrups.