Traditional Medicine by Regions - South America

Mention South America, images of football stars like Pele and Maradona would be the likely first to come to mind. Or maybe the enormous snake Anaconda. To dance fanatics, an experience of dancing to the steps of tango is a must when visiting Argentina. Going back into time, this region was flourishing with ancient civilizations like the Aztec and Mayan. South America is where the 'Queen of Scented Essence' and the 'Food of Gods' originated from. Indeed, this is the land that gave birth to
vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) and cocoa (Theobroma cacao), respectively.








Moreover, South America is the heart of the world's largest 'Green Lung', which is none other than the Amazon rainforest.

Amazon is home to various kinds of vegetationaI formations. Here, you can find many kinds of forest ranging from deciduous forest, savannas, seasonal and flooded forests. The Amazon Basin has tremendous biodiversity, thanks to the mosaic of biome existing in the region.

This world's greatest remaining natural resource hosts a variety of flora and fauna, and the lifeline of the forest, the Amazon River. It irrigates and drains the Amazonian basin. It is believed that the basin, which existed since the Paleozoic period, has immense biodiversity due to its extreme age in geologic terms.

The use of herbal plants as medicinal remedies is not new to the South Americans. The region's traditional healing practice is shrouded with a mystic fog of Shamanism. Shamanistic rituals are a norm with the locals, where greatly revered witch doctors would conjure up potions in the healing process by using different parts of medicinal plants.

Quinine, which was used to treat malaria, and potato,which can be made into poultice to treat skin diseases were among a wide array of herbal medicines employed by the locals to combat diseases and health problems. Besides, Shamans also employ the use of hallucinogenic plants in their rituals as they communicate with the spiritual world.

The European influence also found its way into South America, as evidently seen in some areas where the locals use concoctions of Spanish and local remedies. As more and more scientists delve into the myth of the native's healing rituals, the idea of using South America herbal remedies is slowly instilled into conventional medicinal practice.

Famous herb like Cat's claw or una de gato in Spanish language (referring to the two species,





namely Uncaria tomentosa and Uncaria guianensis) has been traditionally used in folklore medicinal practice ranging from Peru, Colombia, Guiana to other parts of the South America continent. Cat's claw's are used for treating digestive ailments, dysentery, gastric ulcers to arthritis (Eskin 2006, and Foster and Tyler 1999). Upon researching, scientist found out that cat's claw's anti-inflammatory and immuno-stimulant properties are due to the chemical constituents called pentacyclic and oxindole alkaloids.

Besides, South American's traditional medicine has been using Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril) for treating fungal growth, particularly Athlete's foot due to Candida albicans. The indigenous people use its bark as a decoction for the similar purpose. Besides the bark, its leaves and resin also are used for various ranges of ailments. The reason behind the medicinal effects is its anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties derived from the plant's chemical constituents, namely terpenes and phenolics. Other traditional uses comprise treatments of chronic fatigue, memory
performance, coughing and bronchitis.

With 438,000 species of plants have been identified thus far and with many more still waiting to be discovered, Amazon rainforest may hold to many more undiscovered medicinal plant species of great value.