Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Hyperlipidemia by Traditional Practitioners in Kabul City, Afghanistan

¹Department of Pharmacogonosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

²Pharm- D, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

³Department of Pharmacy, Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan

⁴Department of Science Laboratory Technology, Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic Kazaure, Nigeria

⁵Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan

*Corresponding author: Rabia Ayoubi, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kabul University, Afghanistan, E-mail: [email protected]

Received Date: June 30, 2024

Publication Date: October 22, 2024

Citation: Ayoubi R, et al. (2024). Medicinal Plants Used for the Treatment of Hyperlipidemia by Traditional Practitioners in Kabul City, Afghanistan. Traditional Medicine. 5(2):24.

Copyright: Ayoubi R, et al. © (2024).

ABSTRACT

Hyperlipidemia, which is characterized by an increase in the total amount of cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids of the plasma than its normal level is one of the main components of metabolic syndrome caused by various factors. As the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul city has an ancient history of employing traditional practices and usage of medicinal plants (MPs) for the management of various diseases. However, there is no sufficient documented data regarding the application of traditional medicine including phytotherapy for the treatment of hyperlipidemia. Therefore, the main purpose of this research was to identify and to introduce MPs used for the treatment of hyperlipidemia by traditional practitioners (TPs) in Kabul city. The study was a field research conducted on the months of July and August 2020. Kabul city was selected as the field of study. Cross-sectional convenience sampling was used for data collection. The required information was randomly collected from eight districts of Kabul city and accepted as sample. TPs were selected as participants and interviewed using pre-prepared questionnaires. The result of the study showed that 18 MPs were used by TPs for the treatment of hyperlipidemia in Kabul city. The effectiveness of MPs used to treat hyperlipidemia by TPs in Kabul city, in most of the cases, matches the rational phytotherapy. However, further studies are needed to ensure the identity, purity, quality and uniformity of MPs and their recommended dosage forms throughout the city. The unavailability of herbal-treated lipid profile data of patients suffering from hyperlipidemia who visited TPs for treatment purpose was the main limitation of this study.

Keywords: Hyperlipidemia, Medicinal Plants, Traditional Medicine, Safety, Standardization.