Ethnopharmacological study of herbal remedies used for the management of thyroid disorders in Algeria

Abstract

Traditional medicine is gaining an increasing importance in diseases management. Besides, thyroid disease is one of the common endocrine disorders spreading at high frequency worldwide. The present work is an ethnopharmacological study aiming to identify, document and analyze aromatic and medicinal plants used in Algerian traditional medicines for thyroid disorders management. Semi-structured interviews with 120 herbalists and traditional practitioners and rural dwellers were realized in eleven locations in Algeria throughout field studies achieved from June 2017 to July 2019. Results reveal the use of 63 medicinal plants belonging to 59 genera and 34 families. The most represented botanical families were Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae. However, the most cited plant species were Atriplex halimus L., Bunium incrassatum (Boiss.) Amo, Nigella sativa L., Aquilaria malaccensis Lam. and Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipsch. These species are taken alone or in mixtures of two or more ingredients from different origins such as honey, olive oil, and goat milk. Our findings revealed new therapeutic uses of 60 medicinal plants that have not been previously reported for the treatment of thyroid in Algeria. This is the first study documenting the traditional uses based on herbal medicine for thyroid management in Algeria. Our findings are relevant in the search for novel drug discovery. Obviously, it is the time to increase effective scientific studies on mechanisms of action of these medicinal plants in order to validate their popular usages.

Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Healers in Algeria: A Multiregional Ethnobotanical Study

“…Owing to its favorable climate, this region is characterized by an important vegetal diversity, including 659 species, 95 subspecies, 2 varieties, and 1 forma from 381 genera and 88 botanical families ( Meddour and Sahar, 2021 ). The south areas included in the present study covered three of the main cities of the Algerian large desert: Ghardaïa (area = 32,256 Km 2 ), Bechar (area = 161,400 Km 2 ), and El Bayad (area = 71,686 Km 2 ), characterized by important cultural, ecological, climatic, and botanical diversity ( Taïbi et al, 2020 ; Taïbi et al, 2021 ). This desert wide region is characterized by sparse vegetation, grasses appearing during a short period of the year, and rare trees.…”

The use of plants in the traditional treatment of diabetes patients: survey in southern Morocco

“…Aquilaria malaccensis Lam. is commonly used in traditional medicine to relive pain, fever, rheumatism, asthma (Ibrahim et al, 2011), cancer (Bouhaous et al, 2022) and thyroid disorders (Taïbi et al, 2021).…”

Medicinal plants’ proposed nanocomposites for the management of endocrine disorders

“…Hence, researchers are currently highly attentive to phytochemicals which act as natural thyroid hormone analogs or even as modulators for the nuclear receptors, to replace or support synthetic compounds. This exploration of agonists, antagonists, ligands, co-repressors, and co-activators components is a promising therapeutic target for managing thyroid disorders ( Taïbi et al., 2021 ). Moreover, it has been recommended to be utilized as a concoction of natural products in combination with chemical drugs, in order to optimize the therapeutic effects ( Abderrahim et al., 2019 ).…”