MEXICO – The use of plants, through the practice of natural medicine, can combat various human diseases such as cough, muscle aches, heart disease and intestinal problems, among others.

Ferrara biologist Mauricio Gonzalez said that plants (from their stems, leaves, roots and fruits) foods rich in nutrients can be obtained which are used to treat health complications.

He said that natural medicine has been used for over 60,000 years, “although the evidence data to other living beings besides men have benefited with medicinal crops. The remedies are not only part of our cultural heritage, but also evolutionary “.

He said that between the early 20s and 30s began to discredit the use of herbs, especially by the arrival of new synthetic drugs that generated the belief that healing with plants was ineffective.

This, he said, represented a generational break in the transmission of knowledge to preserve the remedies, for those who have the best recipes are the grandparents and these are shared to their children or grandchildren.

However, he said, during the decade of the 60s, the use of herbal medicine and oral tradition was joined by scientific research to ascertain the properties of plants are reappraised.

Gonzalez Ferrera said the importance and uses of plants for the treatment of diseases, will be exposed during the course “Medicinal Plants, learning from them.”

He said that the course held at the Auditorium Museo del Noreste start from June 7 and will continue on Tuesdays subsequent to July 12, through which attendees will learn the benefits, uses and care of the use of plants.

They show attendees about 60 species of plants and teach them to distinguish their properties, smells, textures and what is their proper use, he said.

He noted that fruits and vegetables plants differ in their shapes, smells, tastes and textures. Adding that for certain plants it is essential to carry out processes able to extract their healing assets and develop them in different forms such as: tea, lotions or creams. While others can be modified to be prepared into powder and be a complement to food, examples are garlic salt, cinnamon and chili, he said.