Potential Applications and Challenges of Reintroducing Medicinal Plant Practices
Introduction to Medicinal Plants
Page created by: Becca Terryberry
Medicinal plants are a type of medication that does not often come to mind right away when talking about types of medication. Medicinal plants or herbs are vegetation that have been used in traditional medicine in many ways for thousands of years. Medicinal plants are everywhere around us, we use them without even noticing. The last time you had orange juice, you were using parts of a medicinal plant.
Plants are used for many other things, such as food, clothing, buildings, and more. Finding ways to apply them to our diet can help us live a healthier lifestyle and be more connected to the ground beneath us. You find so much artificial stuff in your lifestyle that it is important to remember to seek out a more natural lifestyle. Of course, there will always be challenges when trying to find a more sustainable lifestyle and changing your diet, but in the long run, it would be worth it for yourself and the planet.
Benefits
There are many benefits to medicinal plants:
With the large variety, there are easy and accessible ways to buy medicinal plant remedies.
You can grow them yourself and make them into tea or oil.
They can help medically in many different ways.
Natural healing with reduced side effects.
My Research
Research Question
The question I am asking in my research is:
What are the potential applications and challenges of reintroducing medicinal plant practices?
Not only are history and sustainability important, but we also need to investigate how likely applying medicinal plant practices into more people's lives would be.
My research question dives into both how we could apply medicinal plant practices more often, and the challenges we would face.
Growing knowledge
Medicinal plants are not as widely known as other forms of medication. To get more people to apply medicinal plants to their lives, more knowledge needs to be shared. With more awareness of sustainability problems, I feel awareness of medicinal plants could also be spread.
How it can be applied
With the many ways medicinal plants can be used, it should be simple to slowly add into a lifestyle. A few ways people apply medicinal plants in a routine are, drinking them in tea, taking them as a supplement, using them as an oil on their body, and more. By having a garden you could grow them in your yard.
Toxicology
Roeder and Wiedenfeld (2015) explained how pyrrolizidine alkaloids are in many plants which are toxic, leading them to be banned in other countries.
Even though they are toxic, the FDA has yet to issue any restrictions on PA- containing herbal drugs.
Although many plants may have toxic effects or factors, does not mean they are deadly to use. Just like any other medication, dosage is important.
Conservation
To keep medicinal plants available and growing, being cautious and sustainable is important. Making sure they are sourced from places with good ethics and practices in sustainable harvesting is crucial.
Groner (2022) shares that to keep traditional medicinal plants alive throughout the years, we need to be cautious and make sure we are being sustainable. They spoke on how projected land cover change has been a major threat to many species used for medicinal purposes.
Too much variety?
With all the variety of medicinal herbs, it is difficult to be able to fully research each one, while also finding new plants with medicinal uses.
Even through studies and research, it is nearly impossible to tell what extent all medicinal plants can be used.
The variety and depth can cause delays and make research much more challenging.
For this research, I want to look into those challenges while also keeping in mind the cultural background of medicinal plants and how I can reintroduce them.
I plan on looking into potential applications and ways to get different kinds of medicinal plants to be more commonly used.
Through interviewing and surveying a variety of ages, I aim to find people's views on how much they know about medicinal plants and the likelihood of them using plants in their diet.
Future Plans
I am aiming to ask people what they know about medicinal plants and if they know of any applications and challenges of using medicinal plants.
I would like to do surveys and/or interviews asking people my research questions and finding out what they know and if they would be interested in applying medicinal plants to their lives.
I plan to ask questions based on what the majority of people may know and some questions to get them thinking deeply about my topic.
Medicinal plants are more important than people realize, they could change people's lives for the better. Having a more sustainable and healthy form of medication is needed.
References
Frey, F. M., & Meyers, R. (2010). Antibacterial activity of traditional medicinal plants used by Haudenosaunee peoples of New York State. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-10-64
Groner, V. P., Nicholas, O., Mabhaudhi, T., Slotow, R., Akçakaya, H. R., Mace, G. M., & Pearson, R. G. (2022). Climate change, land cover change, and overharvesting threaten a widely used medicinal plant in south africa. Ecological Applications, 32(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2545
Roeder E, Wiedenfeld H, Edgar JA. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in medicinal plants from North America. Pharmazie. 2015 Jun;70(6):357-67. PMID: 26189295. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in medicinal plants from North America - PubMed (nih.gov)
