Identificación de frutos con principios activos medicinales en árboles y arbustos distribuidos en Ecuador y a nivel mundial

Abstract

Abstract: The therapeutic use of medicinal plants has been applied since ancient times, the knowledge of this type of medicine has been transmitted from generation to generation. Currently, studies on medicinal fruits are scarce, which has caused a limited use, seeing the fruits only as food. In the present work, we generated information about the medicinal potential of the fruits of different forest species. The information was generated through a search of information in different bibliographic sources. We found a total of 204 species, belonging to 65 families that presented 39 medicinal principles, being the vitamins what has been mostly found. We were able to highlight the few studies reported for fruits, and in many cases the information is very disaggregated and in sources not very accessible. However, it was determined that there is a great potential of forest species that have fruits with important medicinal principles that could be exploited in future studies for the benefit of human health and generate an additional plus for the conservation of highly threatened forest species.