Volume 159, 15 January 2015, Pages 238–244
Ethnopharmacological communication
Ethnopharmacological field study of the plants used to treat type 2 diabetes among the Cakchiquels in Guatemala
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
Type
2 diabetes is characterized by tissue resistance to the action of
insulin, combined with a relative deficiency in insulin secretion. In
Guatemala, type 2 diabetes results in significant mortality rates. The
low incomes of the indigenous population results in the use of
alternative therapies such as medicinal plants to treat the illness. We
could not find any previous study related to the use of medicinal plants
to treat diabetes in Guatemala. The aim of this work is to determine
the most effective plant species used in traditional medicine to treat
type 2 diabetes.
Materials and methods
We
performed an ethnopharmacological field study among the Cakchiquels of
Chimaltenango to select the most prominent plants used to treat the
disease. Type 2 diabetic patients from their community health centers
were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Two mathematical tools
were used to identify potential plant species: the Disease Consensus
Index and the Use Value. International databases, including SCOPUS,
PubMed, and Google Scholar, were used to identify whether the plants
with the highest scores were known to elicit hypoglycemic effects.
Results
After
analyzing the data, we can propose the following plants as the most
prominent among the Cakchiquels of Chimaltenango to treat type 2
diabetes: Hamelia patens Jacq., Neurolaena lobata (L.) R.Br.ex Cass., Solanum americanum Mill., Croton guatemalensis Lotsy, and Quercus peduncularis Née.
Conclusions
The
Cakchiquel patients interviewed did not understand type 2 diabetes;
however, they associated the onset of their disease with a negative
emotion, such as shock, sadness or anger. Despite changes in lifestyle,
influences of advertising, the availability of innovative treatments and
the use of oral hypoglycemic treatments provided by health facilities
serving indigenous communities, the Cakchiquel continue to use medicinal
plants as adjunctive treatment. While they are unaware whether the
plants can cause additional harm, they consider their consumption
beneficial because they feel better. There were 11 plants identified
with UVs greater than 0.5 and high DCIs; from these 64% of the plants
have been identified as having hypoglycemic effects; this finding
supports the traditional selection by the Cakchiquels of medicinal
plants to treat T2D.
Graphical abstract
Abbreviations
- FIC, factor informant consensus;
- UV, use-value;
- T2D, type 2 diabetes
Keywords
- Ethnopharmacology;
- Ethnopharmacological field study;
- Type 2 diabetes;
- Medicinal plants;
- Factor informant consensus;
- Use value
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