An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius
Objective: To collect, preserve and document primary ethnopharmacological information on common natural remedies (NRs) used by the Chinese community to treat and/or manage common diseases in Mauritius, a tropical multicultural island in the Indian Ocean. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were carried...
Published in: | Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2014
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 https://doaj.org/article/ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 2023-05-15T15:12:22+02:00 An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally Luviksha Drushilla Muthoorah 2014-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 https://doaj.org/article/ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 EN eng Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115303002 https://doaj.org/toc/2221-1691 2221-1691 doi:10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 https://doaj.org/article/ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, Vol 4, Iss S1, Pp S387-S399 (2014) Traditional Chinese medicine Natural remedies Ethnopharmacology Herbal remedies Zootherapy Mauritius Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 2022-12-31T14:46:06Z Objective: To collect, preserve and document primary ethnopharmacological information on common natural remedies (NRs) used by the Chinese community to treat and/or manage common diseases in Mauritius, a tropical multicultural island in the Indian Ocean. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 52 key Chinese informants using a semi-structured questionnaire. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices, namely, the informant consensus factor (FIC), the use value, the fidelity level, the index of agreement on remedies and the relative importance were calculated. Results: Plants (61) and animal species (17), belonging to 43 and 9 families respectively, constituted the exploited flora and fauna by the Chinese community. Based on the FIC the main categories of plants used were employed against injury and poisons due to external causes (FIC=0.97), diseases of the respiratory system (FIC=0.96), diseases of the eye and adnexa (FIC=0.95), undefined pains or illness (FIC=0.95), diseases during the postpartum period, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (FIC=0.94 each). For zootherapy, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the eye and adnexa, diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases had total consensus (FIC=1.00). Conclusions: It was found that the Chinese community of Mauritius still relies, to a great extent, on NRs which need to be preserved and used sustainably. Nonetheless, further research is needed to probe the possible active constituents that could be the basis of an evidence-based investigation to discover new drugs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Indian Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine 4 S387 S399 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Traditional Chinese medicine Natural remedies Ethnopharmacology Herbal remedies Zootherapy Mauritius Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Traditional Chinese medicine Natural remedies Ethnopharmacology Herbal remedies Zootherapy Mauritius Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally Luviksha Drushilla Muthoorah An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
topic_facet |
Traditional Chinese medicine Natural remedies Ethnopharmacology Herbal remedies Zootherapy Mauritius Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Objective: To collect, preserve and document primary ethnopharmacological information on common natural remedies (NRs) used by the Chinese community to treat and/or manage common diseases in Mauritius, a tropical multicultural island in the Indian Ocean. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 52 key Chinese informants using a semi-structured questionnaire. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices, namely, the informant consensus factor (FIC), the use value, the fidelity level, the index of agreement on remedies and the relative importance were calculated. Results: Plants (61) and animal species (17), belonging to 43 and 9 families respectively, constituted the exploited flora and fauna by the Chinese community. Based on the FIC the main categories of plants used were employed against injury and poisons due to external causes (FIC=0.97), diseases of the respiratory system (FIC=0.96), diseases of the eye and adnexa (FIC=0.95), undefined pains or illness (FIC=0.95), diseases during the postpartum period, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (FIC=0.94 each). For zootherapy, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the eye and adnexa, diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue and endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases had total consensus (FIC=1.00). Conclusions: It was found that the Chinese community of Mauritius still relies, to a great extent, on NRs which need to be preserved and used sustainably. Nonetheless, further research is needed to probe the possible active constituents that could be the basis of an evidence-based investigation to discover new drugs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally Luviksha Drushilla Muthoorah |
author_facet |
Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally Luviksha Drushilla Muthoorah |
author_sort |
Mohamad Fawzi Mahomoodally |
title |
An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
title_short |
An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
title_full |
An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
title_fullStr |
An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
title_full_unstemmed |
An ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the Chinese community in Mauritius |
title_sort |
ethnopharmacological survey of natural remedies used by the chinese community in mauritius |
publisher |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 https://doaj.org/article/ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 |
geographic |
Arctic Indian |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Indian |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, Vol 4, Iss S1, Pp S387-S399 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221169115303002 https://doaj.org/toc/2221-1691 2221-1691 doi:10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 https://doaj.org/article/ee5e6b956dbb4c1c816ad8ac2913e959 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014C775 |
container_title |
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine |
container_volume |
4 |
container_start_page |
S387 |
op_container_end_page |
S399 |
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1766343063626579968 |