A selection of medicinal plants used as blood purifiers by folk medicinal practitioners of Bangladesh

Abstract

Traditional medicine even in the present century plays an important role in delivering necessary health-care to the people of particularly the developing countries. Traditional medicinal systems usually rely on medicinal plants for treatment, which plants are utilized by traditional medicinal practitioners for treatment of a diverse variety of diseases, against some of which allopathic medicine has no known cure. Folk medicine is the most widely used form of traditional medicine in Bangladesh. Folk medicinal practitioners believe that ailments can occur through accumulation of toxins in blood, which in turn results from undigested food or improper emptying of bowels on a regular basis. The various toxins that accumulate then pass through the blood to various organs of the body and if they pass a certain threshold, the body no longer can defend itself against diseases resulting in diseases occurring from both within and without causes. As a result, one of the most frequent remedies prescribed by the folk medicinal practitioners or Kavirajes of Bangladesh is medicinal plant, which can purify blood, i.e. enable the body to get rid of toxic wastes either through neutralization or through elimination. Such blood purifying medicinal plants may or may not be accompanied with other medicinal plants dealing with treatment of the disease itself or its symptoms. This suggests that blood purifiers at the very least produces a laxative effect and can at the same time or independently boost up the immune system of the body. In fact, the Kavirajes advise even healthy people to take these blood purifying medicinal plants or plant parts on a regular basis such that toxins cannot accumulate within the body. The objective of the present study was to conduct ethnomedicinal surveys among the Kavirajes of various districts of Bangladesh to document their use of blood purifying medicinal plants. A total of 149 plants were found to be used by the 203 Kavirajes interviewed, of which 47 plant species are presented in this report. The plant species belonged to 30 families. Fabaceae family plants appeared to be the dominant species used by the Kavirajes contributing a total of 8 plants within the 47 plants reported. The Apocynaceae and the Zingiberaceae family contributed three plants each. Since prevention is always better than cure of any disease, the plants presented in this report can form the basis of further studies towards discovery of their possible immune-boosting and disease-preventing effects.