Role of medicinal plants in sustainable Healthcare: Phytochemical Screening and Applications

Abstract

Extraction and use of plants for medicine are the traditional techniques which have been adopted to combat multiple diseases. The technique showcases versatile effectiveness and is exclusively adopted in underdeveloped countries even in this modern era. The costly modern health care system pushes the adoption of plant medicine, which is cheaper. The main reason for the successful usage of plant medicine is due to high content of bioactive phytochemicals, which is considered as justifying factor for medicinal usage. Therefore, the medicinal plants could enhance be enhanced for the sustainable health care system in different regions of the world. The objective of this study was to investigate the place of medicinal plants in sustainable health care through qualitative phytochemical screening and documentation on their traditional use. The quantitative analysis was performed with alignment of modern standards for phytochemical procedures. The results were numerically expressed and compared with existing literature. The samples were analyzed and the result showed 90% of flavonoids followed with Alkaloids 80%, Phenolic compound 75%, Tannins 70%, while 60% and 55% had Terpenoids and saponins followed by 40% glycosides. The indication of high percentage of flavonoids and phenolic compounds highlight the potential of antioxidant activity by medicinal plants, which is considered necessary for controlling chronic diseases associated with oxidative stress. The findings reveal that medicinal plants contain extraordinary phytochemical diversity and hence able to facilitate sustainable health care support systems. The investigation concludes that this qualitative screening of phytochemical is very useful as a preliminary concern for traditional claims. It is suggested that future studies should concentrate on quantitative analysis, sophisticated analytical tools and clinical validation to provide impetus to the incorporation of medicinal plants in primary health care.