Plants Used in the Management and Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases: Case Study of the Benin People of Southern Nigeria

There is a global increase in cardiovascular diseases (like stroke, heart attack, and heart failure), especially in developing countries. Healthcare organizations in these low- and middle-income countries are unable to handle the current and projected economic and social effects of CDVDs and are struggling to deal with other diseases and developmental challenges that disproportionately impact the region. This chapter aims to produce an inventory of plants and plant-based remediesPlant-based remedies used by Benin people, Nigeria, for the treatment and management of CDVDs. Fourteen locally identifiable key informants including professional herbalistsProfessional herbalists, traditional healersTraditional healers, and herbal remedy sellers were administered questionnaires to document plants and plant-based remedies Plant-based remediesused in the management and treatment of CDVD by Benin people of Southern Nigeria. From the survey, a total of 17 medicinal plants belonging to 14 plant families were identified, documented, and collected as used by Benin people for the treatment and management of CDVD. The plants included Theobroma cacao, Aloe barbadensis, Momordica charantia, Laurus nobilis, Morinda citrifolia, Carica papaya, Allium cepa, Ficus exasperate, Elaeis guineensis, Olea europaea, Persea Americana, Moringa oleifera, Beta vulgaris, Allium sativa, Hunteria umbellate, Zingiber officinale, and Curcuma species. The dominant plant families were Lauraceae, Amarylidaceae, and Zingiberaceae with two representatives each. The plants were mostly collected from home gardens, markets, and local forests and within either cultivated or wild systems. Although plants and plant-based remedies Plant-based remedieswere mostly taken to address hypertension and high blood pressure, they are also used to manage stroke and to address CDVD-related chest pains without any side effects. Medicinal plants used in the management and treatment of CDVD contain natural bioactive compounds that accumulate in the plants as secondary metabolites, such as alkaloids, sterols, terpenes, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, and tannins. The fundamental problem that most herbal medications address is the lack of standardization that may be used to classify them even though these effects usually overlap.