MEDICINAL PLANTS USED FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS IN PARAGUAY

Abstract

A large percentage of the world population use medicinal plants.. In Paraguay, there are several plant species used for medicinal purposes to various conditions, including diabetes. This study aimed to determine the medicinal plants used by patients visiting the National Programm for Diabetes Health Center No. 9, in the city of Asunción. The Programm is part of a program of pharmaceutical care developed proposed as part of the Doctoral Thesis: “Evaluation of a pharmaceutical care program in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.” An interview was done with 61 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus that participated in this program between October and December 2011. From 61 patients interviewed, 17 were men and 44 women; the average age was 55 ± 10.6 years; 45.9% lived in Asuncion and 54.1% in different cities of the Central Department. 78.1% said they use herbs without a prescription, 18.8% do not use medicinal plants, and 3.1% did not answer the question. The patients reported 33 plant species used for medicinal purposes, distributed in 25 families. Asteraceae was the mostly represented with 21.6%; the most used part was the leaf (48.5%); the form of employment was tereré, a traditional drink of Paraguay very similar to mate (infusion of yerba mate), with 51.5%. The five most cited species were: Moringa oleifera (Fabaceae); Artemisia absinthium (Asteraceae), Tithonia diversifolia (Asteraceae), Baccharis trimera (Asteraceae) and Stevia rebaudiana (Asteraceae). Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using medicinal plants, do concomitantly with conventional drugs, of which 47% are for the cardiovascular system, 26% are antidiabetics and 17% for the nervous system.