AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Professor Oluwatosin Adaramoye of Biochemistry Department, University of Ibadan has called for deliberate intake of herbs, saying it is a proactive approach to lifestyle.
Adaramoye added that doing so would protect the body from diseases, improve health and enhance the quality of life and wellbeing.
The don spoke while delivering the 530th inaugural lecture of the University of Ibadan entitled ‘Herbs and wellness: Memoirs of a Xenobiochemist,’ on behalf of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences.
Adaramoye said that herbs may provide a solid foundation for wellness and help to prevent diseases now and in the future.
He identified ginger, red yeast rice, garcina kola seeds, turmeric, jasmine and African Guinea pepper as medicinal plants that contain substances that are therapeutic or as precursors for the synthesis of other drugs.
He described the contribution of herbs to disease treatment and prevention as enormous, saying that he examined the relationship between herbs, cancer and inflammation and found out that about 60per cent of the anti-cancer agents currently in use were derived from plants, marine and micro-organisms.
According to him, many plant-derived compounds have been isolated so far and are currently under clinical trials.
He, however, cautioned that there are some drawbacks that include the presence of certain toxic or potentially carcinogenic agents in some herbs. He further stressed that the drawbacks required research to identify the bioactive components and their specific functions in herbs.
Describing accessibility to the right equipment as crucial, he called for the reintroduction of the Senate Research Grant as well as an enabling environment where competitive grants, uninterrupted power supply and well-equipped laboratories are readily available to promote research.
