Abstract
Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. is one of the most important medicinal plants that grows in tropical forests in India and South East Asia. Its active ingredients and extracts of leaves and roots are used in traditional medicine to treat various ailments and they are present in the market for pharmaceutical and parapharmaceutical products. Commercial products based on substances of plant origin that are generally connoted as natural have to be subjected to monitoring and evaluation by health authorities for their potential impacts on public health. The monitoring and evaluation of these products are critical because the boundary between a therapeutic action and a functional or healthy activity has not yet been defined in a clear and unambiguous way. Therefore, these products are considered borderline products, and they require careful and rigorous studies, in order to use them as complement and/or even replacement of synthetic drugs that are characterized by side effects and high economic costs. This review explores the traditional uses, chemical composition and biological activity of G. sylvestre extracts, providing a general framework on the most interesting extracts and what are the necessary studies for a complete definition of the range of activities.
Keywords: Antisweet activity, biological activity, functional foods, Gymnema sylvestre, gymnemic acid, phytochemical investigation, traditional uses.
Related Books
Industrial Applications of Soil Microbes
Industrial Applications of Soil Microbes
Algal Biotechnology for Fuel Applications
Biopolymers Towards Green and Sustainable Development
Terpenoids: Recent Advances in Extraction, Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Environmental Microbiology: Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Applications
Biomarkers in Medicine
Industrial Applications of Soil Microbes
Recent Advances in Biotechnology
Sustainable Utilization of Fungi in Agriculture and Industry
41
1
2
1