Implications and applications of folk zootherapy in the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract

This paper deals with the use of 180 animal species as medicinal resources in the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. Data, which come from field works carried out in different indigenous, traditional, rural and urban communities within Bahia State, were gathered through the compilation of information available in scientific articles, monographs, theses, reports and presented papers. The animal-based folk medicines come from millipedes (0.5%), annelids (1.0%), amphibians (1.0%), arachnids (1.0%), echinoderms (1.5%), crustaceans (4.0%), molluscs (6.0%), reptiles (12.0%), birds (13.0%), fishes (17.0%), mammals (20.0%) and insects (23.0%). These bioresources provide about 300 raw materials, which are turned into medicines and prescribed to treat a wide range of locally diagnosed ailments. The result shows how important this ethnozoological phenomenon is, and indicates that traditional knowledge on zootherapy is to be seriously studied in order to lead to the discovery of new sources of drugs. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Honey as Medicinal and Food Resource. Comparison between Polish and Multiethnic Settlements of the Atlantic Forest, Misiones, Argentina~!2010-01-05~!2010-02-10~!2010-06-22~!

“…The stingless bees occupy a prominent place among the species used as food and medicine by Polish settlers and Criollos, which coincides exactly with the findings of others ethnoentomolgical studies conducted in different regions of America [18,19,41,[54][55][56]. The high diversity of stingless bee's species (aprox.…”

“…In any case, these resources are not available to all members of the family, but mainly to men working in the forest and the agriculture fields, and for children playing in these areas. The context of games in which the honey of wasps was gathered, was documented by Costa-Neto [19]. The importance of honey as a food and nutritional resource has been recorded among various American cultures (Toba and Wichí [41]; Yukpa [62]; Ache [68]; among others).…”

“…One can find a large and varied number of representations and uses in a local community when the treated topic is limited, even if a studied resource is not of primary importance, as in the study of wasps (Vespoidea), made by Costa-Neto in northeast Brazil. He demonstrated a richness of knowledge and tradition of utility of a group of insects less widely mentioned in ethnoentomology in more general studies [19].…”

“…Honeys produced by insects of the order Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and bumblebees) are valued in rural communities for their high energy content, medicinal properties, and diversity of secondary products that can be obtained from them. These insects are represented in different cultural domains of both indigenous and Criollos communities [17][18][19][20][21]. Nevertheless, these works treat the subject from general perspective and do not provide details of conceptual categorizations of assigned uses.…”

Chemical Composition of Ecuadorian Commercial Pot-Honeys: Trigona fuscipennis "Abeja De Tierra", Melipona mimetica "Bermejo" and Scaptotrigona ederi "Catiana"

“…The medicinal use of honey or pollen produced in cerumen pots by eight taxa of Brazilian stingless bees was investigated in the zootherapy study of Costa-Neto [8]. These medicinal properties need to be demonstrated, and one approach is to study bioactive compounds such as flavonoids [9].…”