THE use of medicinal plants in the management and treatment of conditions including malaria, diabetes, and anaemia has received a lot of attention lately.
Medical programmes are paying more attention to therapeutic plants because of their accessibility, affordability, and local availability. It has been demonstrated that many medicinal plants contain harmful chemicals, notwithstanding their therapeutic value.
Unexpected hazardous effects might arise from consuming therapeutic herbs without carefully examining their safety and effectiveness, especially when it comes to organs like the kidneys and liver.
Justicia carnea, commonly called Hospital Too Far or Blood of Jesus, “Ewe ajeri” or “Ewe eje” in Yoruba and “Ogwu-obara” in Igbo is a flowering plant used in various parts of Africa in traditional medicine for the treatment of anaemia, inflammation, fever, diarrhoea, liver diseases and arthritis respiratory and gastrointestinal disorder.
Gastrointestinal disorders are diseases that affect the tract from the mouth to the anus.
In Nigeria, the leaves of J. carnea are typically cooked with other medicinal plants for therapeutic purposes, boiled separately in water to make tea, or cooked with edible vegetables to make soup.
Leaves extract of J. carnea is shown to be a rich source of B2, B12, B9 and B1. The riboflavin content of J.carnea was higher when compared with a similar plant like Telfeira occidentalis (fluted pumpkin or ugwu). B vitamins play a vital role in the function of the nervous system, aid in the formation of red blood cells and help to build tissues.
Despite the avalanche use of this medicinal plant, researchers at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso Oyo State who validated J. carnea leaf as a blood tonic, cautioned against its intake in large dose and over a prolonged period of time.
The researchers in the journal, Clinical Phytoscience, had evaluated the safety of J. carnea leaf as a blood tonic in healthy male wistar rats. The animals were given different doses of the ethanol extract of J. carnea leaf, with water serving as a control. Organs and blood samples of the animals were assessed at the end of two weeks.
The results of this study suggest that although extract of J. carnea leaf is relatively safe and could be beneficial in elevating red blood cell, hemoglobin, packed cell volume and platelet count, its intake at a higher dose and over some time because it caused noticeable liver and kidney injury.
However, they suggested that the blood stimulating effects of the plant could be due to the presence of dietary constituents that stimulate activities of blood producing cells and stabilization of blood in circulation.
In Nigeria, there are many plants which have proven effective in this area and have been locally used to boost blood in anaemic patients.
Researchers had listed fluted pumpkin leaves, velvet bean, garden egg leaves, Jatropha Tanjorensis, Sida rhombifolia and Parquetina nigrescens, all beneficial in boosting blood levels. Fluted pumpkin leaves are called Ugu (Igbo), Ewokoro (Yoruba) and Ikong (Efik). Velvet Bean can also be called the Devil’s Bean, Agbala (Igbo) and Werepe (Yoruba).
Jatropha Tanjorensis (Hospital too far) also has numerous names that people call it such as Independence Leaf, Chaya, Catholic Vegetable, Ugu Oyibo (Igbo) and so on. Garden egg leaves have some other names such as eggplant, African eggplant, Akwukwo-anara or anyara (Igbo), Efo Igbo (Yoruba) and Ganyen Gauta (Hausa).
Sida rhombifolia is also known as the jelly leaf, flaxweed or wireweed while Parquetina nigrescens is called mgbidin gbe in Igbo, ewe ogbo or orewe afa eje in Yoruba and kwankwanin in Hausa.
So, instead of getting a blood transfusion, these plants are used to speedily boost the red blood cell count. It serves as an alternative for blood tonics and transfusion. This works well if the condition doesn’t require immediate attention or calls for emergency.
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Moreover, anaemia can be caused by iron deficiency, Vitamin B12 deficiency, folate deficiency, and other causes. Iron intervention aims to move at-risk populations to a nutritional sufficiency status aligned with good health. One or two actions cannot effectively address iron deficiency.
No single effective intervention for eliminating iron deficiency exists in most real-life situations. An appropriate set of intervention strategies must be selected, weighed, integrated, and adapted to the needs of different populations, environments, and the availability of resources.
Moreover, in a review in the Saudi Journal for Health Sciences, researchers underscore the relevance of traditional medicinal plants in treating anaemia while advocating for the need for scientific validation of their efficacy to enhance patient care and health outcomes.
They emphasizes that addressing iron deficiency is crucial for improving health, as it is a common cause of anemia. However, they declared no single intervention is sufficient to eliminate iron deficiency in real-world scenarios, indicating the complexity of the issue.
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