Diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in rural communities in Africa, particularly in children under the age of five. This calls for the development of cost effective alternative strategies such as the use of herbal drugs in the treatment of diarrhoea in these communities. Expenses associated with the use of orthodox medicines have generated renewed interest and reliance on indigenous medicinal plants in the treatment and management of diarrhoeal infections in rural communities. The properties of many phenolic constituents of medicinal plants such as their ability to inhibit enteropooling and delay gastrointestinal transit are very useful in the control of diarrhoea, but problems such as scarcity of valuable medicinal plants, lack of standardization of methods of preparation, poor storage conditions and incertitude in some traditional health practitioners are issues that affect the efficacy and the practice of traditional medicine in rural African communities. This review appraises the current strategies used in the treatment of diarrhoea according to the Western orthodox and indigenous African health-care systems and points out major areas that could be targeted by health-promotion efforts as a means to improve management and alleviate suffering associated with diarrhoea in rural areas of the developing world. Community education and research with indigenous knowledge holders on ways to maximise the medicinal potentials in indigenous plants could improve diarrhoea management in African rural communities.
South Africa is endowed with agro-biodiversity that consists of different types of indigenous leafy vegetables (ILVs) with health benefits and rich source of nutrients to cater for over three million people suffering from hunger and malnutrition in the country. Unfortunately, the use of these vegetables is declining at an alarming rate due to negligence and lack of appropriate cultivation practices to improve yield, quality and adaptability of valuable species. The nutritional value and antioxidant potential arising from their rich polyphenolic constituents are described in this review as useful inexpensive resources for reducing hidden hunger, prevention and control of cancer, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and heart disease. A total number of 22 plant species belonging to 12 genera and 10 families have been reviewed. Amaranthus species, Cucurbita pepo, Bidens pilosa, Chenopodium album and Solanum nigrum appear to be the most popular and most widely occurring leafy vegetables in the rural areas of South Africa. There is a need to create an atmosphere of awareness that would encourage consumption and industrial production of these vegetables in a bid to curb the high level of malnutrition and food insecurity in South Africa.
Infection with Helicobacter pylori is strongly associated with a number of gastroduodenal pathologies. Antimicrobial resistance to commonly-used drugs has generated a considerable interest in the search for novel therapeutic compounds from medicinal plants. As an ongoing effort of this search, the susceptibility of 32 clinical strains of H. pylori and a reference strain—NCTC 11638—was evaluated against five solvent extracts of Combretum molle, a plant widely used for the treatment of gastric ulcers and other stomach-related morbidities in South Africa. The extracts were screened for activity by the agar-well diffusion method, and the most active one of them was tested against the same strains by micro-broth dilution and time kill assays. Metronidazole and amoxicillin were included in these experiments as positive control antibiotics. The solvent extracts all demonstrated anti-H. pylori activity with zone diameters of inhibition between 0 and 38 mm. The most potent anti-H. pylori activity was demonstrated by the acetone extract, to which 87.5% of the clinical strains were susceptible. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90) values for this extract ranged from 1.25 to 5.0 mg/mL while those for amoxicillin and metronidazole ranged from 0.001 to 0.94 mg/mL and from 0.004 to 5.0 mg/mL respectively. The acetone extract was highly bactericidal at a concentration of 2.5 and 5.0 mg/mL, with complete elimination of the test organisms in 24 hours. Its inhibitory activity was better than that of metronidazole (p<0.05) as opposed to amoxicillin (p<0.05). The results demonstrate that C. molle may contain therapeutically-useful compounds against H. pylori, which are mostly concentrated in the acetone extract.
Edible portions of Leucopogon parviflorus, Arthropodium strictum, Carpobrotus rossii, Rhagodia candolleana, Typha orientalis, Correa alba, Dianella revoluta and Acacia longifolia were collected in 2017 and 2019 from Warrnambool, Victoria Australia, and studied for phenolics and proximate composition. The plant species recorded consistent antioxidant activity with no nutritional alterations. Except for A. longifolia, total phenolic contents (TPC) were higher in 2019 than 2017 (P < 0.05). All the plant species contained Ca, Mg, Na and K. Except for betanin, isolated from R. candolleana (700 mg L À1 ) and C. rossii (244 mg L À1 ), higher quantities of polyphenols were extractable in methanol than water (P < 0.05). The plant fatty acid composition was predominantly palmitic, oleic and linoleic acids with A. longifolia containing 44% linoleic acid. While the plant nutrients and fatty acids were fairly stable, TPCs, some of the minerals and polyphenols varied between the years.
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