Use plants for medicine, says researcher

One of Barbados’ leading researchers in pharmacology is suggesting that authorities urgently start to explore the use of herbs with medicinal properties to prevent and treat various illnesses including the COVID-19 virus.

Making reference to the development of the COVID Organics in Madagascar, which is made up of Artemisia and other endemic medicinal plants, Dr Damien Cohall said Barbados should not dismiss the idea of developing treatment for COVID-19 and the range of chronic non-communicable diseases plaguing the island.

This suggestion comes as the island continues to grapple with a rising death rate from the virus especially among those who are said to have underlying conditions.

“I strongly believe that any country that has the wealth or value of these plants that we have should be actively looking at these plants not only for COVID but other health priorities of the country,” Damien Cohall, Deputy Dean Pre-Clinical Sciences and Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies told an online forum on Wednesday night.

“We also suffer from high hypertension rates, high diabetes prevalence rates, overweight and obesity and we need to find mechanisms that are inherent and within this space which could help in one, decreasing the health burden of the nation to make us a more healthy population, and two, to reduce the expense that we apply towards the purchasing and importing of drugs to treat conditions which are primarily managing symptoms and not looking at root causes nor trying to prevent persons from developing illness,” he said.

The pharmacologist said from his research, it appeared that the Madagascar COVID Organics’ primary role was “helping in a prophylactic way to build that protection that persons need against this virus”.

He said: “That itself should be explored and considered. We have had many opportunities where we know that compounds from natural sources, plants, are effective medicines.”

“Not only against COVID, but we need to look at all the other conditions that we are struggling with in Barbados,” he added.

Cohall was speaking during the Reasoning Online About Revolution forum hosted by the African Heritage Foundation under the theme Local Healing Herbs: Backyard Bushes – Identifying Healing Herbs and their Benefits.

The university lecturer detailed benefits of several plants and herbs as he shared the historic practices of some cultures and groups in using plants for treatment of several illnesses and lesions.

He pointed out that the prevalent use of plants for the treatment of some illnesses in Barbados over the years was influenced by religion and cultural practices.

However, Cohall pointed to a declining trend in Barbados to treat certain ailments using plants, saying this was due to a number of factors over time including deforestation for sugarcane production and housing development and urbanization.

“We also note the role of education. As persons get more educated they move away from some of the traditional practices . . .and you find that we have lost a lot of ancestral practices due to the lack of permeation of practices through different age groups and social strata,” he added.

The researcher said it was estimated that there were some 650 species of flowering plants in Barbados, two of which were endemic to the island.

“I have done two key studies that point to the fact that we have about 33 per cent of the population here in Barbados using medicinal herbs, which is certainly comparatively low than what we would have acknowledged as the global practice where 65 per cent of the world population still use medicinal plants,” he said.

He said the use of medicinal herbs in Barbados was more prevalent among women, who accounted for about 60 per cent of the total number.

“From studies that I have done, I know that just about 65 per cent of the plants that are used as plants with medicinal effects have pharmacologically active compounds. So that is good,” he said.

Cohall, who did not give the specific period for his studies, added that “Fifty-one per cent of the reported uses of these plants have been validated by literature sources.”

The Cave Hill lecturer said he believed the next natural step for Barbados was for experts to sensitize the population about the medicinal values of plants and their adverse effects.

He said there was also need for private and public sector support for research and development including drug development and patents, pointing out that while the region missed out on anti-cancer compounds found in periwinkle research done in the Caribbean, there was now an opportunity to benefit from medicinal cannabis research.

“I support the use of plants for prophylaxis (preventing diseases). Why wait until you have a disease? Start harnessing the value of plants now and understanding their medicinal value and use them to supplement the foods that we eat because the truth is, if we eat the right foods we really don’t need any form of medicine,” he said.

“We know that as much as we try to eat healthy there are factors that mitigate that. You try to eat healthy but you can’t afford the food in the supermarket because healthy food costs too much money. When the food is cheap we know it is imported and it is GMO [genetically modified organism], which could bring about a whole different suite of conditions. So we want to plant what we eat and grow what we eat and we also want to harness the medicines from our own backyard and stop depending on the processed foods too much. I know it is very difficult,” he said.

(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)