Apuntes para la historia de la salud: La contribución de América Latina a la farmacia natural

Abstract

This work highlights the contribution of Latin American countries to human health. It shows the importance of rescuing the contribution of this natural wealth to be revalued by the contemporary world and to be recognized as a natural pharmacy of incalculable value, which needs to be conserved and taken advantage of consciously and sustainably. In the harmonic relationship between man, nature and health, from its origins through experimentation and observation, it was possible to differentiate the use of plant species that served to heal or feed. To speak of the floristic richness of Latin America is to refer to the contribution of pre-Columbian America to the health of the world, which in its diversity of cultures finds diversity of knowledge, practices and natural therapeutic resources, which make up the great pharmacy that nature offers to the contemporary world for the benefit of his health. A study was carried out, with a documentary review of the great classics of herbal medicine, generally in the world and in Latin America in particular, to identify the most representative medicinal plant species of each region of Latin American countries. With the collected information, botanical identification cards, their physical characteristics and their reported uses were elaborated for the treatment and management of illnesses. From the analysis of the results it was found that, although each continent has species that are its own, there is evidence of the use of medicinal plants in America more than 10,000 years ago. Its contribution to the health of the world is enough, with a large number of species of food and medicine, that even before the arrival of the Spaniards the world did not know. For example: Cinchona off., Talauma mexicana or Yolozochitl, Tecoma Stans, Myrogylon Peruiferum, Passiflora Incarnata, Cartica papaya and Berberis vulgaris or Axixcozahilispatli, are some of the most representative species that Latin America has given to the health of the world.