<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<p>Socially significant diseases are defined as widespread diseases causing great economic, social and demographic damage. Nowadays traditional health practices have gained increasing interest. The aim of this online survey was to establish the knowledge of a random sample of Bulgarian people about traditional medicines in order to find out: 1) the knowledge about the use of medicinal plants for some socially significant diseases; 2) the attitudes of respondents towards the medicinal plants safety; 3) the statement whether the herbs can replace conventional drugs. In present survey the most used medicinal plants reported was Crataegus monogyna Jacq., Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Allium sativum L., Valeriana officinalis L., Sambucus nigra L., Cinnamomum verum J. Presl and Curcuma longa L. Current scientific studies proved appropriate use reports of these plants. One of the reasons for the renewed interest in phytotherapy is the assumption that anything natural is safe, but there are data that herbal chemical constituents could exert toxic effects. The demographic features of our respondents revealed the importance of the level of education for the self-health care. So, more efforts should be focused on the spread of disease prevention information in low educated populations.</p>
</abstract>

Socially significant diseases are defined as widespread diseases causing great economic, social and demographic damage. Nowadays traditional health practices have gained increasing interest. The aim of this online survey was to establish the knowledge of a random sample of Bulgarian people about traditional medicines in order to find out: 1) the knowledge about the use of medicinal plants for some socially significant diseases; 2) the attitudes of respondents towards the medicinal plants safety; 3) the statement whether the herbs can replace conventional drugs. In present survey the most used medicinal plants reported was Crataegus monogyna Jacq., Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Allium sativum L., Valeriana officinalis L., Sambucus nigra L., Cinnamomum verum J. Presl and Curcuma longa L. Current scientific studies proved appropriate use reports of these plants. One of the reasons for the renewed interest in phytotherapy is the assumption that anything natural is safe, but there are data that herbal chemical constituents could exert toxic effects. The demographic features of our respondents revealed the importance of the level of education for the self-health care. So, more efforts should be focused on the spread of disease prevention information in low educated populations.

Herbal medicines for treatment of socially significant diseases in current Bulgarian society

Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences

Konstantin Preslavsky University of Shumen

Acta Scientifica Naturalis

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Public License.

Socially significant diseases are defined as widespread diseases causing great economic, social and demographic damage. Nowadays traditional health practices...

Herbal medicines for treatment of socially significant diseases in current Bulgarian society

Published Online: Apr 04, 2024

Page range: 30 - 39

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/asn-2024-0003

Keywords
socially significant diseases, ethnobotany, herbal medicines

© 2024 Zheni Dimitrova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Public License.

Herbal medicines for treatment of socially significant diseases in current Bulgarian society

Published Online: Apr 04, 2024

Page range: 30 - 39

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/asn-2024-0003

Keywordssocially significant diseases, ethnobotany, herbal medicines

© 2024 Zheni Dimitrova et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Public License.

Keywords
socially significant diseases, ethnobotany, herbal medicines