Herbal Medicine Uses for Respiratory System Disorders and Possible Trends in New Herbal Medicinal Recipes during COVID-19 in Pasvalys District, Lithuania

Abstract

Despite some preliminary studies of the available herbal medicine preparations and their curative effects on COVID-19, experts still fear that unproper use of such homemade medicines could do more harm than good to people relying on unproven alternatives of questionable efficacy. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of herbal medicines used for respiratory system disorders in the Pasvalys district during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania. An archival source was also studied, looking for possible recipes for the treatment and prevention of respiratory diseases in Lithuanian traditional medicine, emphasizing the safety guidelines. The survey was conducted using the deep interview method. The respondents mentioned 60 species of medicinal plants from 29 different families used for the treatment and prevention of respiratory system disorders (for cough mostly, 51.70% of all indications). Twenty eight out of 60 plant species were not included in the European Medicines Agency monographs and only 50% of all included species were used as indicated by the European Medicines Agency for respiratory system disorders. The trends in the ethnopharmacological choices of modern consumers and the analysis of archival sources can be a great source of ideas for new herbal-based pharmaceutical preparations for COVID-19 symptoms in Lithuania considering the safety recommendations.

The medicinal plants for Covid-19 treatments

“…In the study conducted in Lithuania on medicinal plant use the authors reported that the percentage of men and women was unequal because traditionally, knowledge of herbal medicine in the country is passed down through the female line and even today, herbalists are usually women (Pranskuniene et al, 2022).…”

“…Whereas the methodology of others was to investigate the use of medicinal plants by participants who did not have a diagnosis of COVID-19, and the results showed that many people used the plants to treat the symptoms of the disease, based on prior knowledge passed down from generation to generation for viral diseases that had similar symptomatology (Pranskuniene et al, 2022, Villena-Tejada et al,2020, Khadka et al, 2021.…”

Plants from Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Mexico Used to Treat Respiratory Diseases: A Review

“…On the other hand, some of these metabolites have important effects at the cellular and physiological level in the human organism, owing to their therapeutic properties. They have effects on different diseases, including respiratory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, among others [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…They mainly include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, and, more recently, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Most of the population suffers from some respiratory disease at least once a year [ 19 , 24 ]. In 2019, the entire world was affected by the SARS-CoV-2, a virus that affects the respiratory system and caused the death of millions of people during the pandemic.…”

“…One of the alternatives to improve the symptoms caused by COVID-19 is the use of medicinal plants. However, there is limited information on the study of arid and semi-arid zones of Mexico to treat respiratory diseases, which needs further investigation for designing novel herbal formulations [ 19 ]. To date, only Opuntia ficus-indica belonging to the semi-arid zones of Mexico has been studied for its interaction between chiral compound astragalin with SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, like a possible protease inhibitor, that is one of the most investigated protein targets of therapeutic strategies for COVID-19 [ 25 ].…”