The Amazon Forest is known all over the world for its diversity and exuberance, and for sheltering several indigenous groups and other traditional communities. There, as well as in several other countries, in traditional medical systems, weakness, fatigue and debility are seen as limiting health conditions where medicinal plants are often used in a non-specific way to improve body functions. This review brings together literature data on , commonly known in Brazil as "saracura-mirá" and/or "cerveja de índio", as an Amazonian adaptogen, including some contributions from the authors based on their ethnographic and laboratory experiences. Topics such as botany, chemistry, ethnopharmacological and pharmacological aspects that support the adaptogen character of this plant, as well as cultivation, market status and supply chain aspects are discussed, and the gaps to establish "saracura-mirá" as an ingredient for the pharmaceutical purposes identified. The revised data presented good scientific evidence supporting the use of this Amazonian plant as a new adaptogen. Literature data also reveal that a detailed survey on natural populations of this plant is needed, as well as agronomical studies that could furnish bark as a raw material. Another important issue is the lack of developed quality control methods to assure its quality assessment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11020191 | DOI Listing |
Plants (Basel)
January 2022
Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Bl. A2, sl. 10, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil.
The Amazon Forest is known all over the world for its diversity and exuberance, and for sheltering several indigenous groups and other traditional communities. There, as well as in several other countries, in traditional medical systems, weakness, fatigue and debility are seen as limiting health conditions where medicinal plants are often used in a non-specific way to improve body functions. This review brings together literature data on , commonly known in Brazil as "saracura-mirá" and/or "cerveja de índio", as an Amazonian adaptogen, including some contributions from the authors based on their ethnographic and laboratory experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood Res Int
December 2016
Departamento de Produtos Naturais e Alimentos, Faculdade de Farmácia, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Bl. A(2), sala10, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil. Electronic address:
Ampelozizyphus amazonicus Ducke is a medicinal plant used in the Amazon region to prepare a drink with tonic, immunomodulatory and adaptogenic properties. Due to the growing interest in dietary supplements with these properties and, to provide a new functional ingredient, barks from A. amazonicus were extracted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhytomedicine
March 2010
Laboratório de Etnofarmacologia, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
With the recognition that high levels of sustained stress are associated with the natural course of countless illnesses, effective anti-stress agents have gained importance. Improved endurance to particularly stressful periods is one of the medicinal claims for Marapuama (Ptychopetalum olacoides Bentham, PO), a popular Amazonian herbal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if PO possesses anti-stress properties.
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