The practice of herbal medicine dates back to the very earliest periods of known human history. There is evidence of herbs having been used in the treatment of diseases and for revitalising body systems in almost all ancient civilisations – the Indian, the Egyptian, the Chinese and even the Greek and Roman civilizations.

Over the decades, the use of herbal extracts of plants such as pigeon pea, pawpaw, kola nut, lemon grass and craw-craw plant for medicinal purposes never lost its place because man’s need to find measures to combat sickness has always been as important to his survival as his need for food and shelter.

Nature has provided a complete store-house of remedies to cure all ailments of mankind, the plant being man’s only chemist for ages. In fact, use of herbs had continued to rise worldwide because of the preference of consumers for natural therapies; concern regarding undesirable side effects of modern medicines; high cost of synthetic medicines and the great interest in alternative medicines among others things.

There are plenty of foods and herbal products that supposedly offer miracle benefit that will prevent or cure any disease. Indeed, some Nigerian herbal concoctions are touted as ‘cure all medicines’. The Yoruba of South-West Nigeria calls it gbogbonse, while Igbo of South-East Nigeria refers to it as ogwonnuoria.

It is claimed they are able to cure diseases ranging from diarrhoea, fever, stomach upset, waist pain, arthritis, diabetes to pile (haemorrhoid) to mention but a few.

The concept of cure all used by some traditional health practitioners in Africa is one sore point that many capitalise on to overlook the health benefits of herbal treatments. Interestingly, Olukemi Odukoya, a Professor of Pharmacognosy in her inaugural lecture at the University of Lagos, attributed the workings of these “cure all medicines” in Nigeria to the anti-oxidant mechanisms of these medicinal plants.

In her lecture entitled, “Pharmacognosy: Traits, Tracks, Traces, Facts, Fascinations, Future – The magic of life,” she explained that the workings of many drugs presently in used can explain the workings of these “cure all medicines”.

Professor Odukoya citing cooking spices such as ginger, onion and red pepper as sources of dietary anti-oxidants, declared that in addition to imparting flavour to the food, they possess antioxidants benefits that justifies their traditional use in pepper soup as a cure all medicine for the sick.

According to her, “spices and herbs can protect from oxidative stress and play an important role in the chemoprevention of diseases that have their causes and mechanism in reactive oxygen species.”

Artemisia has been used by Chinese herbalists for more than a thousand years in the treatment of many illnesses, such as skin diseases, cancer and malaria. Likewise neem has been used for various skin diseases, malaria, cancer and viral infections including HIV/AIDS by natives in Africa and Asia. However, she said the working of these plants, whose extracts are now in use in the treatment of malaria, were based on their oxidative stress on the malaria parasite.

Professor Odukoya explained that several studies have demonstrated the crucial role of oxidative stress in diseases such as diabetes, citing some chemical constituents of sorghum (poporo oka-baba in Yoruba) as been found useful not only as food in Nigeria, but also to prevent or treat the complications of diabetes because of their effects on oxidative stress.

She stated that anthocyanins, the chemical substance responsible for  colours such as orange, red, blue, violet and magenta colours in plants, also contributes to the medicinal usefulness of plants such as Hibiscus sabdariffa (zobo) and Sorghum bicolor  that is grow in abundance in the northern part of the country as source of beverage, food and as natural colourants.

Human sperms are very susceptible to reactive oxidative stress attack, which results in a decreased sperm motility.  According to Professor Odukoya, many plants used locally in Nigeria to boost libido, induce erection, increase sperm count and consequently male fertility works as antioxidants too.

Meanwhile, in allaying the fear of many people on the best ways herbs should taken, Professor Odukoya suggested taking herbs internally in form of teas. She said the specification on herbal teas must be very clearly followed – leaves, flowers and seeds to be infused in hot water; roots, bark and woody material to be boiled for between 10 and 15 minutes.

According to her,”herbal teas should be taken as dietary items. This means that drinking such a tea is taken just as seriously as the eating of a good meal, drinking it slowly, sip by sip. The universal dose is twice daily. Take one glass (150ml) in the morning on waking before meals, the second last thing at night just before going to bed.”

However, she declared that many myths had contributed to marginalisation of traditional health care in Nigeria, According to her, the thinking that traditional medicines are only of value when their active ingredient is known and they are purified for mass production was not true just as the thinking that traditional health systems could only care for chronic low level conditions.

She declared as false the thinking that little is known of the safety and efficacy of traditional medicine and that it only serves as a source of leads for the development of new western drugs.

“A great deal of information about the traditional uses of plants is still intact with the people as original facts of pharmacognosy. Various ethno-surveys have been carried out in the past to document these facts,” she stated.

While describing herbal medicine as a gold mine that currently only few people are mining, Professor Odukoya urged University of Lagos to establish an institute for medicinal plant research to transform research into herbs into gainful use and thereby contribute to the achievement of the ultimate ambitious goal of health for all at an affordable cost.

According to her, laws and regulations governing traditional medicine should be passed so that the country can move from the present state to the next (ultimate) future in the present millennium.

She declared, “The health care systems are going to become more and more expensive, therefore, we have to develop technologies to essentially introduce and integrate herbal medicine system into our health care.”

She recommended value addition to local natural medicines to ensure it boost income of Nigerians, increased local support for research and development of medicinal and aromatic plants, provision of basic facilities like water, electricity, as well as the political will of governments to develop traditional medicine and medicinal plants, and ensuring that pharmacovigillance of herbal medicines is well-defined.

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