Knowledge of the Ethnomedicinal Plants Used by Tobas and Mocovíes Tribes in the Central-North of Argentina
José L. Martinez, Amner Muñoz-Acevedo, Mahendra Rai in Ethnobotany, 2019
The Espinal phytogeographic province (Fig. 10.2), also known as the Pampeano forest, extends as an arch from the states of Corrientes, the north of Entre Ríos, and the central regions of Santa Fe, Córdoba and La Pampa; south-central of San Luis, southeast of Buenos Aires and a small extension of Río Negro. A fraction of this province is constituted by the xerophytic coastal forests of the rivers Paraná, de la Plata and the Argentinean Sea. It is worth mentioning that since 1971, the Argentinean botanic expert Angel Lulio Cabrera stopped representing Espinal province in the maps, so it usually does not appear in the phytogeographic maps of Argentina. At present, it is very difficult to observe native vegetation as a result of the transformation occurred due to the agricultural expansion. This region exhibits important climatic variations from north to south, such as rainfall that varies from about 1100 millimeters per year in Corrientes and Entre Ríos to a minimum of 350 millimeters per year in the west of La Pampa. The predominant vegetation of this province is the open xerophilous deciduous forest and shrub steppes, the carob tree (Prosopis alba) being the characteristic species. This phytogeographic province is subdivided into three districts: “Ñandubay”, “del Caldén” and “del Algarrobo”. Tobas and Mocovíes tribes inhabit the last districts that include the central region of Santa Fe (Fig. 10.1) (Cabrera 1971, Adámoli et al. 1972, Cabrera and Willink 1980).
Roots and Tubers
Christopher Cumo in Ancestral Diets and Nutrition, 2020
Adding potatoes to soup and stew, Inca ate them with corn, beans, peppers (C. annuum), quinoa, guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), or their combination. Other Incan foods included tomato, peanut, cashew (Anacardium occidentale), squashes, cucumber (Cucumis sativus), chili peppers, gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), avocado (Persea americana), oca (Oxalis tuberosa), ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus), mashua (Tropaeolum tuberosum), maca (Lepidium meyenii), carob (Ceratonia siliqua), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), pineapple (Ananas comosus), elderberry (Sambucus nigra), and meat from llama, alpaca, and guinea pig. Game included duck (Anas platyrhynchos and Cairina moschata) and deer (Odocoileus species). The Pacific coast yielded fish. As in ancient Egypt, discussed in Chapter 4, and other stratified societies, only the wealthy regularly ate meat. Commoners ate potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, and other vegetarian fare. The Inca dried the surplus, especially potatoes, corn, and quinoa, for consumption in lean times. During the precontact period, potatoes were unknown in North America and the Caribbean. Maya and Aztecs, for example, developed civilizations independent of the tuber.
Chemopreventive Agents
David E. Thurston, Ilona Pysz in Chemistry and Pharmacology of Anticancer Drugs, 2021
Quercetin is one of the most abundant dietary flavonoids present in many vegetables, fruits, leaves, and grains, and is also an ingredient of many supplements, beverages, and other food products. It has been reported that most individuals will consume up to 50 mg of quercetin a day from a typical Western diet. Some of the richest sources of quercetin include radish leaves, capers, lovage, sorrel, carob fiber, dill, cilantro, watercress, kale, Hungarian wax pepper, fennel leaves, broccoli, watercress, tomatoes, sweet potato, and red and yellow onions. According to some reports, raw capers are one of the richest sources, containing up to 234 mg per 100 g edible portion. Yellow onions are also a rich source, with the edible flesh containing 280–490 mg/kg of quercetin glucosides per bulb. In tomatoes, the quercetin is present mainly in the form of quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, which accumulates in their skin, making cherry tomatoes a particularly rich source due to their high skin-to-volume ratio. Interestingly, organically grown tomatoes are reported to contain more quercetin that nonorganic tomatoes. Quercetin is also found at lower levels in popular fruits such as apples (especially Red Delicious), blueberries, bilberries, cranberries, and black plums, and is also present in black and green tea, red wine, and honey.
Molecular mechanism and research progress on pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine in liver injury
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Hong Yang Zhang, Hong Ling Wang, Guo Yue Zhong, Ji Xiao Zhu
Chinese herb medicine of Ceratonia siliqua (Neyrinck et al. 2015), Lindera aggregata (Sims) Kosterm. (Lauraceae) (Wang et al. 2016) and Crude Rhubarb (Yang et al. 2015) have been used to improve the alcoholic liver injury. Rhubarb contained the highest amount of anthraquinones that can reduce the liver inflammation induced by alcohol, promote the growth of gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila and regulate colon antibacterial protein secretion. Several bioactive compounds such as salvianolic acid B (Zhang et al. 2017), dihydroartemisinin (Xu et al. 2017), and Panax notoginseng saponins (Zhou et al. 2015) can inhibit hepatic injury induced by alcohol. Panax notoginseng saponins inhibit acute ethanol-induced liver injury, by reducing lipolysis in white adipose tissue and decreases the expression of hormone-sensitive lipase total protein and its phosphorylation. Moreover, this herb inhibits alcohol-induced hepatic fatty acid uptake by elevating liver cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) expressions, improves liver lipid accumulation, reduces CYP2E1-mediated oxidative stress, and prevents induction of CYP2E1 in response to chronic alcohol consumption.
A pinitol-rich Glycyrrhiza glabra L. leaf extract as functional supplement with potential in the prevention of endothelial dysfunction through improving insulin signalling
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2022
Laura Siracusa, Cristina Occhiuto, Maria Sofia Molonia, Francesco Cimino, Marco Palumbo, Antonella Saija, Antonio Speciale, Concetta Rocco, Giuseppe Ruberto, Mariateresa Cristani
d-Pinitol has been isolated mainly in plants belonging to Leguminosae family, including Ceratonia siliqua L. (carob), whose pods can contain up to 5–10% of this product (Baumgartner et al. 1986, Lopez-Sanchez et al. 2018). Recently, the consumption of a d-pinitol-enriched carob pod beverage was demonstrated to down-regulate the inflammatory pathway in obese subjects (López-Domènech et al. 2018). However the use of GGLME may be more convenient than that of extracts from carob pods, in which the content of this molecule is 5–10 time higher but whose cultivation suffers for time and money consuming issues. In fact, liquorice is an herbaceous plant, cultivated for its edible roots largely employed and whose leaves are a waste product, while carob is a tree that is cultivated for its pods and needs much more time, engagement and investment to become productive.
Phytochemical composition, toxicity, and repellent effects of medicinal plants Peganum harmala, Pterocarya fraxinifolia, and Tanacetum parthenium extracts against Sitophilus oryzae L.
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2023
Mahmoud Fazeli-Dinan, Seyed Hanif Osia-Laghab, Mina Amini, Ali Davoodi, Seyed Hassan Nikookar, Jamshid Yazdani Charati, Mohammad Azadbakht, Ahmadali Enayati
Our results also indicated that flavonoid compounds are present in P. fraxinifolia and T. parthenium extracts. The literature on the insecticidal effects of different plant extract containing flavonoids compound against insect pests are not always consistent. For example, Nia et al. (2020) reported that the flavonoid compounds in some medicinal plant extracts did not exert significant insecticidal activity against eggs and larvae of the carob moth, Ectomyelois ceratoniae Zeller. On the contrary, in some studies, the existence of flavonoid compounds such as taxifolin, catechin, flavones, flavanones and flavonols in plant extracts revealed their insecticidal properties (Fang and Casida 2000, Alqasoumi et al.2012, Wang et al.2016, Upadhyay 2020, Baliyarsingh et al.2021).