Original Articles
Diorge Jônata
Abstract
This systematic review aimed to quantify the studies related to therapeutic action of plants listed in the Brazilian National List of Medicinal Plants of Interest to the Unified Health System (RENISUS), published between 2010 and 2013 in three scientific databases (SciELO, Science Direct and Springer). Initially, the searching of the papers was performed by reading the title, selecting those related to health. The selected work was then analyzed by reading the abstract and selecting publications that mentioned some kind of effective treatment. Finally, the text of the selected papers was fully evaluated in order to seek those that showed some kind of therapeutic action, listing plants that have confirmed efficacy and morbidity or clinical indications with the highest number of studies. From the 21,357 papers found in the search databases, 330 showed therapeutic improvement on disease. Curcuma longa (turmeric), Zingiber officinale (ginger) and Allium sativum (garlic) were the plants with the largest number of studies. Antitumor and antioxidant activities were the clinical indications most published.