Traditional Brazilian medicine (Portugues: Medicina indígena) includes many native South American elements, and imported African ones. It is predominant where indigenous groups and among the black-Native American

Indigenous peoples in Brazil

The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...

 mestizo

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

 population, and in the Northeast coast, nearly all interior regions including Amazon regions, savannahs, rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

, foothills

Foothills

Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...

, and Pantanal

Pantanal

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland and one of the world's largest wetland of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between and...

. According to Dr. Romulo R. M. Alves, "although Brazil's health system is public...use of traditional remedies and rituals provide an economical way of healing for much of the populace, but that also does not mean that wealthy Brazilians don't seek it out as well. Traditional medicine is a deep part of Brazilian heritage."

The Aruak, Tupi, Yamomami, Krahô, Guarani and other Indians groups are among the native tribes that together with isolated descendants of Africans or Quilombola

Quilombola

A Quilombola is a resident of a Quilombo in Brazil. They are the descendents of slaves who escaped from slave plantations that existed in Brazil until abolition in 1888. The most famous Quilombola was Zumbi and the most famous Quilombo was Palmares....

, and Indians integrated (Caboclo

Caboclo

A caboclo or caboco is a person of a mixed Brazilian Indian and European ancestry. In Brazil, a caboclo is a specific type of mestiço as is the mulato, a person of a mixed Afro-Brazilian and European ancestry....

) that are known to almost exclusively practice traditional medicine. Among the plants include edible foods like the cashew

Cashew

The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...

, peppers

Capsicum

Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its species are native to the Americas where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, but they are now also cultivated worldwide, used as spices, vegetables, and medicines - and have become are a key element in...

, mangosteen

Mangosteen

The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall...

 and coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

, but often include inedible parts like the fruits, leaves, husk, bark

Bark

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...

. Neighboring nations like the Patamona

Patamona

The Patamona are an Amerindian group, known archaeologically from pottery collections in the Yawong Valley and the upper Siparuni River in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana. The upper Siparuni was exploited until recently for suitable farm lands, hunting and fishing...

 of Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

 also use the cashew.

There is growing interest in Brazilian medicine as the Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical forest in the world, and is home to immense biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

, including cures or treatments for many ailments. Japanese scientists have found strong anticancer activity in Brazilian traditional remedies. In one study in 1997 published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, only 122 species existing in Brazil could be related to the Chinese species (or 14.35% of the samples)., which means the vast majority of species are not known to Chinese traditional medicine. Thousands and possibly millions of species remain unstudied and/or susceptible to extinction by habitat destruction.

Examples

Examples of modern studies of Brazilian medicine the Acai Palm

Açaí Palm

The açaí palm is a species of palm tree in the genus Euterpe cultivated for their fruit and superior hearts of palm. Its name comes from the Portuguese adaptation of the Tupian word ïwasa'i, '[fruit that] cries or expels water'. Global demand for the fruit has expanded rapidly in recent years,...

 contains antioxidants active against leukemia

Leukemia

Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...

. Alchornea glandulosa

Alchornea glandulosa

Alchornea glandulosa is a tree species of the Acalyphoideae native to South America, growing for example in southern Brazil from Minas Gerais to Rio Grande do Sul. It is locally known as tamanqueiro, tapiá or amor seco. This gnarled tree grows preferentially in riparian forest, where it a common...

 is used to treat assorted skin diseases, diarrhea

Diarrhea

Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...

, inflammation

Inflammation

Inflammation is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process...

s, leprosy

Leprosy

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

 and rheuma. Scientific studies have confirmed most of these effects, and also found extracts of certain species to kill off trypanosoma

Trypanosoma

Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids , a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. The name is derived from the Greek trypano and soma because of their corkscrew-like motion. All trypanosomes are heteroxenous and are transmitted via a vector...

, some bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 and fungi, and cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 cells.

Some others include psychoactive plants like Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

 Epena

Virola

Virola, also known as Epená, Patricá, or Cumala, is a genus of medium-sized trees native to the South American rainforest and closely related to other Myristicaceae, such as nutmeg...

 and Jurema used in rituals currently being investigated for their potential use in psychiatry.