Phytotherapy
Phytotherapy is the use of plants or parts thereof for therapeutic purposes and has been used by animals and man himself from prehistory. In fact, the majority of current drugs are based on active principles of plants. We therefore introduce readers to this amazing world in the belief that they will be really useful. And we will hand our companion Maria Jose Valcarcel, Bachelor of Pharmacy and naturopath.
It is called ACTIVE to any substance with pharmacological activity. The active principles are usually secondary metabolites of the plant, ie that are not central to it (most often reserve substances, products to repel or attract insects for pollination, etc.)..
HERB plant is equipped with all active substances with pharmacological activity that can be exploited from the therapeutic standpoint.DRUG is the part or parts of the plant used to contain most of the active ingredients, and / or containing in proper proportion. (Not to be confused with “drugs” that are the subject of drugs). For example, the drug of buckthorn bark is aging, so are bearberry leaves the barrel cactus fruits, from gentian root, and so on. It should be noted that sometimes different parts of a plant have different active ingredients so they will have different pharmacological actions also (we have several drugs of the same plant).
Phytotherapy is the use of plants, or parts of it-and for medicinal purposes is as old as man himself. Back in prehistory, when the earth was full of plants, flowers and herbs, our ancestors probably came to them, “noting the habits of animals and decide to imitate in order to alleviate their ailments. And so, thanks to the experience to witness so much as cures poisoning caused by accidental ingestion-sometimes-of various plant species, man was learning the healing powers of some of them and the toxic actions of others. He thus came to possess great insight and selectivity “that we have lost-to choose just that plant to neutralize the poison of a snake, that flower to stop bleeding from a wound or chewing this root to calm the pain colic …
When the man went to live in gregarious societies, this knowledge would become an element of power and was restricted to the witch doctors and priests of the tribe, in whom his fellows went to lodge the responsibility of caring for the health of the whole. From there to the use of such knowledge do in ritual magic or religious complexion there was only one step.
credit to: Maria Jose Valcarcel
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medicinal herb called piney/Tags: drug, herb plant, Medicinal Plants, phytotherapy
