School of Pharmacy, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, Torino, Italy 2 Directorate General of Food Safety and Nutrition,

Transcription

1 1 Department of Drug Science and Technology, School of Pharmacy, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, Torino, Italy 2 Directorate General of Food Safety and Nutrition, Ministry of Health, Via G. Ribotta, 5, Rome, Italy Abstract: Keywords: INTRODUCTION Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: Mediterranean diet and Ethnobotanic knowledge Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii Caroli Magni Hortus simplicium

2 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe traditional knowledge ethnobiology Ethnobotany: History and Methods for a Quantitative Ethnobotany Homo sapiens

3 Interpretation and meaning of plant secondary metabolism

4 Figure 1 Primary and secondary metabolism reactions chlorophyll + CO 2 + light Carbohydrates Pentose cycle Phosphoenolpyruvic acid Shikimic Acid Aromatic amino acids Cinnamic acid PHENYLPROPANOIDS ALKALOIDS Amino acids FLAVONOIDS Pyruvic acid Tricarboxylic acids Acetil CoenzimaA Malonyl -CoA PHENOLS Mevalonic acid TERPENOIDS CAROTENOIDS STEROIDS etc etc why can the secondary metabolites (plant chemicals) affect human life?

5 The reverse pharmacology: a new approach on the basis of ethnobotanical data purpurea Digitalis An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses Galanthus

6 etc Functional aspect of conventional food: innovative interpretation etc

7 Figure 2 Comparison between Medical and Nutritional Pharmacology (from Migrating principles of pharmacogenomics (PGx) to nutrigenomics (NGx) to enable the practice of preemptive nutrition. [from Gillies & Krul (83)] etc de novo

8 CONCLUSIONS

9 Figure 3 The step-by-step scientific basis of ethnobotany Summary of the steps demonstrating the scientific basis of the ethnobotany, directly linked with the xenohormesis, a biological phenomenon described as homeostasis promoting factor. Traditional usage of food and health plants = Ethnobotany 1 Thousand of Phychemicals inside a single plant 2 Criteria for selecting plants for investigation: selection based on traditional usage 3 Experimental approach by means of Reverse Pharmacology Method 4 In a Nutritional Pharmacological point of view, the classic plant-based food contains Phytochemicals, able to maintain the homeostasis in human subjects. The Phytochemicals exert their physiological effects on the basis of xenohormetic phenomenon. 5 Ethnomedicine 6 Pharmacol Ther 123 J. Ethnobiol. Metab. Mediterr J Nutr Public Health Nutr 1A Nutr Metab 2 Clin Nutr 23 J.Clin. Epidemiol. 60 REFERENCES 20 Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 45, J. Ethnopharmacol 92 J. Pharm. Pharmacol 53 Arch. Gen. Psychiatry, 66 Methods in Plant Biochemistry FASEB J. 21, Pharmacol Curr Protoc JAMA Am J Cardiol. 105

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