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Plant Source Foods
Published in Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy, Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy
Watercress (Nasturtiumofficinale), of the family Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, is an aquatic plant native to Europe and Central Asia. The leaves are dark green with 4–12 cm long. Watercress is rich in glucosinolates (sulforaphane), carotenoids, and polyphenols, as well as Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, lutein, zeaxanthin, α-tocopherol (vitamin E), and folic acid. It is a good source of iron, calcium, and iodine (133). It provides a reservoir of flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, and many other glycosides. In traditional medicine, the leaves are used as diuretic, stomachic, depurative, expectorant, hypoglycemic, odontalgic, and stimulant (133). Consumption of watercress may lower arterial blood pressure and prevent diabetes. Rich in vitamin K, watercress can interfere with blood-thinners like warfarin when taken in excess. Recent scientific studies have reported that watercress might delay or impede some forms of cancer like breast, prostate, melanoma, esophageal, pancreatic cancers, because watercress is rich in glucosinolates (sulforaphane) (133).
Medicinal Plants in Natural Health Care as Phytopharmaceuticals
Published in Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Surya Prakash Gautam, Herbal Product Development, 2020
It is a glaborous, much branched, deciduous shrub with 4-gonous lateral branches often ending in spines; leaves simple, opposite, entire, lanceolate; flowers white, fruit globose; the principle colouring matter is lawsone, 2-hydroxy-l: 4-naphthaquinone which is present in dried leaves, behenic, arachidic, stearic, palmitic, oleic, etc. The roots are bitter, refrigerant, depurative and diuretic and are useful in treatment of burning sensation, dipsia, leprosy, skin diseases and liver tonic. They are useful in treatment of wounds, ulcers, anti-inflammatory, diarrhoea, dysentery, scabies, boils, etc. Earlier, this plant was used as hair dye and in cosmetics. But nowadays, it is used as a medicinal plant. The leaves of this plant showed anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, analgesic, antifungal and antibacterial activity. Lawsone (2-hydroxy napthaquinone), mucilage, mannite, gallic acid and tannic acid were found to be the main chemical constituents that might be having a role in its medicinal properties (Chakkilam, 2017).
Ethnobotany of Teucrium Species
Published in José L. Martinez, Amner Muñoz-Acevedo, Mahendra Rai, Ethnobotany, 2019
Milan S. Stanković, Nenad M. Zlatić
Teucrium fruticans L. is appreciated to a great extent in central parts of Italy due to its pharmacological properties. The leaf of the species is used to prepare nfusion with diuretic and depurative effects. The extracts of this species contain neo-clerodane diterpenes germacrene D and β-caryophyllene. High amounts of β-pinene and β-myrcene as well as flavonoid compounds cirsilineol and cirsimaritin which show high level of biological activity were also detected (Kisiel et al. 2001, Frabetti et al. 2009, Acquaviva et al. 2017). The extracts of the species from Spain have antimicrobial and antioxidant effect and may be used in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry (Stanković et al. 2017).
Characterization of potentially health-promoting constituents in sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum) cultivated in the Conero Natural Park (Marche region, Central Italy)
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2023
Antonietta Maoloni, Teresa Pirker, Eva-Maria Pferschy-Wenzig, Lucia Aquilanti, Rudolf Bauer
Sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum L.) is an aromatic plant belonging to the Apiaceae family. The plant grows in coastal areas of Mediterranean and Black Sea and Atlantic Europe. It is rich in bioactive substances with nutritional and medicinal value (Alves-Silva et al. 2020). Its fleshy and succulent leaves are used for the preparation of cooked meals, salads, and pickles (Meot-Duros and Magné 2009; Generalić Mekinić et al. 2016). In folk medicine, they are applied as carminative, digestive, vermifuge, diuretic, depurative, anti-inflammatory, tonic, and antiscorbutic drug, as well as in the treatment of wounds and common cold (Atia et al. 2011; Zafeiropoulou et al. 2020). In recent years their ethyl acetate extracts showed activity against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro (Gnocchi et al. 2020), acting on the metabolic pathways (Gnocchi et al. 2021) and on the bioenergetic profile (Gnocchi et al. 2022) of HCC cells, and improving their sensitivity towards sorafenib, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug (Gnocchi et al. 2023). Sea fennel is characterized by the presence of several bioactive constituents like vitamin C, essential fatty acids, essential oils, and polyphenols. Previous phytochemical studies revealed a high content of phenolic acids, mainly chlorogenic acids (Franke 1982; Cunsolo et al. 1993; Meot-Duros and Magné 2009; Generalić Mekinić et al. 2016, 2018; Pereira et al. 2017; Boutellaa et al. 2019; Najjaa et al. 2020).
The ethanolic extract obtained from Campomanesia pubescens (D.C.) O.BERG fruits exerts anxiolytic and antidepressant effects on chronic mild stress model and on anxiety models in Wistar rats: Behavioral evidences
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2020
Gustavo Roberto Villas Boas, Ana Paula Stefanello da Silveira, Brunna Charlla Feitosa Farinelli, Claudia Andréa Lima Cardoso, Emely Arce, Silvia Aparecida Oesterreich
Species of the genus Campomanesia, belonging to the family Myrtaceae, are widely found in central Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina, being used fresh and in the form of sweets, ice cream, soft drinks, liqueurs, and, often, as flavoring agents in alcoholic distillates.16 Studies have shown that Campomanesia pubescens (guavira) leaves harvested in Brazil present anti-inflammatory17 and antioxidant effects.18 In addition, they are used by the local community as a depurative, antidiarrheal, and cholesterol-lowering agent.19 Plants of the family Myrtaceae, such as Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus, have been used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.20 This plant exhibits high levels of flavonoids, a polyphenolic compound,21 conclusively involved with anxiolytic and antidepressant effects in CNS.22 Previous studies have shown that different parts of C. pubescens also have high levels of flavonoids.23
Aristotle - Ἀριστοτέλης (ARISTOTÉLĒS, 384/3- 322/1 BCE) The revelation of tuberculosis in his zoological works
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2023
M. Cilione, M. Martini, F. Zampieri, N. Riccardi, F. Brigo, V. Gazzaniga
For the rest, the ingredients perform anti-inflammatory functions (iris, honey, quince), depurative (diuretic arugula, laxative peplis and figs), emollient (hot water, egg, pitch) and balsamic (resins), as attested by the medical matter of Pliny and Dioscorides [52,53].