The use of foodstuff as natural medicines has already been established through studies demonstrating the pharmacological activities that they exhibit. Knowing the nutritional and pharmacological significance of foods enables the understanding of their role against several diseases. Among the foods that can potentially be considered as medicine, is sesame or Sesamum indicum L., which is part of the Pedaliaceae family and is composed of its lignans such as sesamin, sesamol, sesaminol and sesamolin. Its lignans have been widely studied and are known to possess antiaging, anticancer, antidiabetes, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Modern chronic diseases, which can transform into clinical diseases, are potential targets of these lignans. The prime example of chronic diseases is rheumatic inflammatory diseases, which affect the support structures and the organs of the body and can also develop into malignancies. In line with this, studies emphasizing the anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of sesame have been discussed in this review.

Background: Asystasia gangetica, also referred to as Chinese Violet is an invasive weed that has been revealed to contain biologically active components and manifest pharmacological effects. Phytochemical analysis on different extracts of A. gangetica reported that the plant contains steroids, sugars, phenolics, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and amino acids, alkaloids, terpenoids, quinines and carbohydrates and bioassay techniques performed using the plant material manifested its antioxidant, anti-asthmatic and antidiabetic properties. Materials and Methods: To further understand how the existing and the potential abilities of A. gangetica possibly work, the total phenolics, total flavonoids, total condensed tannins and total polysaccharide content of different extracts of A. gangetica have been analyzed as well as its antioxidation properties using DDPH and FRAP assays. The effect of combining A. gangetica extract to the methanolic extract of Morus alba leaves on the potency of the antioxidation properties of both plant materials was also explored. Results: Evaluation of the results revealed that A. gangetica ethanol extract is the extract most abundant in polyphenol, DCM extract in flavonoids and condensed tannins, while only a few extracts had polysaccharides. Ethanol extract has the most promising DPPH free radical scavenging activity, while methanol extract was reported to have the highest Trolox equivalent. No significant synergistic effect was observed in the combination of A. gangetica and M. alba extracts. Conclusion: These findings provide information on the A. gangetica extracts as antioxidant agents and as a source of natural products. Consequently, the results provide a new direction for medical research.