Foods that heal: Traditional indigenous plants as bioresource for health security
Priya Sundarrajan
Abstract
The human population has become progressively reliant on a small number of plants for food and nutrition when actually there is an abundance of them.With growing populations and rapidly changing climates, there is a need to look for alternatives of plants that reduce expansion of land for agriculture, provide food security and preserve biodiversity.Humans have depended on nature for their existence since time immemorial.Throughout history, people have searched for 'The Tree of Life', a tree that would supposedly bring health and youthfulness to those who discovered it.The use of biological resources for healthcare has been nurtured by the indigenous people of every land.People of every culture have always tried and tested indigenous plants for thousands of years, identifying that almost all of nature is meant for food, clothing, shelter and wellbeing and adapting based on available resources.Plants that exert beneficial pharmacological effects on human body are called medicinal plants and they possess therapeutic properties mainly due to their natural ability to synthesize secondary metabolites like alkaloids, tannins, and flavonoids, etc., which are the sources of important drugs such as atropine, codeine, digoxin, morphine, quinine and vincristine.The knowledge of medicinal plants and their use provide a vital combination of livestock and human healthcare in various parts of the world.This use of indigenous medicinal plants for healthcare has been developed over time in different cultures, based on the available natural resources in an area.Many of the traditional medicines are practiced in a non-formal way by the local people as well as through recognized systematic medicinal systems like Ayurveda in India.According to many of these systems, the medicinal plants not only provide health security, but also involve an array of practices and resources that relate to mind-body-nature balance and nutritional well-being of the individuals.The current article has the objective of highlighting some indigenous plants such as sago palm (Metroxylon sagu), grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and pulse crops that have the potential in solving the problems that are becoming increasingly real as time passes.Plants such as these have the potential to be utilized as modes of nutrition, sustainable use of traditional medicinal plants as well as the issues and challenges in global health security.