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Herbalism: its importance and the use of plants

Regina Jacobsen, February 22, 2024

The meaning of herbalism is the application of botany to medicine; that is, to the use of medicinal herbs in order to use their properties to heal diseases that afflict humans and other species, in order to improve health Hapé.

The active ingredients present in different organs are extracted from a single plant with the purpose of treating various diseases.

Mexican herbalism emerged in pre-Hispanic times, from the religion that was practiced at that time. Thus, people conceived diseases as products of the actions of their gods. They tried to find a cure in nature and thus generate great advances in the study of the medicinal properties of plants.

Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes herbalism as an effective tool, since it is estimated that 80% of the world’s population uses it. With a total of 35,000 plant species that have medicinal potential, people use them to replace or complement their medical treatments. This is because currently there is great scientific documentation related to herbalism and it is more accessible.

The great diversity of species present in our country and the extensive cultural wealth present have favored the use of plants for medicinal purposes since pre-Hispanic times.

Mexican herbalism as cultural heritage
Herbalism as a cultural heritage has been transmitted from generation to generation, so that some practices survive and are practiced in a common and current way, both in rural and urban areas.

In the country there is a wide variety of phytotherapeutic treatments that are part of traditional Mexican herbalism. It has approximately 4,500 officially registered species, ranking second worldwide in the number of registered medicinal plants.

In both developed and developing countries, the use and marketing of phytopharmaceuticals and natural products for medicinal purposes have shown accelerated growth in recent times, which is evidenced by the significant increase in global demand for these products.

It has also been proven that some plants used for medicinal purposes have active ingredients that are used to make commercial drugs.

Medicinal plants as a generational transfer
An important point regarding the use of medicinal plants is the experience of tradition and its transfer from generation to generation in Mexican families. The majority of users, mostly women, learned the use of medicinal plants because it is a family business and their parents or grandparents transmitted this knowledge to them.

In general, a single subject is mentioned as the person who teaches, who not only distributes, but is capable of prescribing and curing. It is possible to demonstrate learning and experimentation that is transmitted from generation to generation supported in parallel with scientific bases. The idea of ​​an “intangible inheritance” is also conceived as such, where it is supported mainly through practice.

At the same time it functions as a way of maintaining identity as a people, it can be translated as a form of power and authority that is expressed in the dominion of nature and its properties, the health and illness of the individual, over others and over themselves.

Accessibility in lower social strata
The vast majority of people who come and access these practices are people with limited resources.

Likewise, sellers and distributors of medicinal plants believe that people go to herbalists, among other reasons, because it is cheaper compared to conventional medicine.

The search for therapeutic alternatives, such as herbalism, generates a point of reflection around the real effectiveness and accessibility of patent medicines from the pharmaceutical industry.

It also tells us about the cultural capital that social groups have historically forged, which in our country has an indisputable Mesoamerican root.

The current use of plants with medicinal value brings to the fore how traditional or popular contemporary herbalism, far from being impoverished or lost, has been enriched and strengthened thanks to the growth of scientific studies that support it, this, added to the introduction of new species. It is possible to form a cultural heritage in the hands of the responsible social actors themselves.

Opinion

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