Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
This
study is the first to demonstrate the breadth and patterns of the
medicinal applications of African palms. It sheds light on species with
the potential to provide new therapeutic agents for use in biomedicine;
and links the gap between traditional use of palms and pharmacological
evaluation for the beneficial effects of palm products on human health.
Last but not least, the study provides recommendations for the areas
that should be targeted in future ethno-botanical surveys.
Aim of the study
The
primary objective of this survey was to assemble all available
ethno-medicinal data on African palms, and investigate patterns of palm
uses in traditional medicine; and highlight possible under-investigated
areas.
Materials and methods
References
were found through bibliographic searches using several sources
including PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar and search engines of the
State and University Libraries of Aarhus, National Library of Denmark
and Copenhagen University Libraries, Harvard University Libraries, and
the Mertz Library. Information about ethno-medicinal uses of palms was
extracted and digitized in a database. Additionally, we used an African
palm distribution database to compute the proportion of palm species
that have been used for medicinal purposes in each country.
Results
We
found 782 medicinal uses mentioned in 156 references. At least 23
different palm species (some remained unidentified) were used
medicinally in 35 out of Africa׳s 48 countries. The most commonly used
species were Elaeis guineensis, Phoenix dactylifera, Cocos nucifera, and Borassus aethiopum. Medicinal uses were in 25 different use categories of which the most common ones were Infections/Infestations and Digestive System Disorders.
Twenty-four different parts of the palms were used in traditional
medicine, with most of the uses related to fruit (and palm oil), root,
seed and leaf. Palms were used in traditional medicine mostly without
being mixed with other plants, and less commonly in mixtures, sometimes
in mixture with products of animal origin. Future ethno-botanical
surveys should be directed at the central African region, because palm
species richness (and plant species richness in general) is particularly
high in this area, and only few ethno-botanical studies available have
focused on this region.
Conclusion
The
wide time span covered by our database (3500 years) shows that African
palms have been used medicinally by many societies across the continent
from time immemorial until today. Most medicinal use records for African
palms were found in two categories that relate to most prevailing
diseases and disorders in the region. By analyzing ethno-medicinal
studies in one database we were able to demonstrate the value of palms
in traditional medicine, and provide recommendations for the areas that
should be targeted in future ethno-botanical surveys.
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Arecaceae;
- Traditional medicine;
- Ethnopharmacology
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