Use of Plant Extracts in Alternative Medicine

Abstract

Plants provide the oxygen required for maintenance of human life. They are essential for human life in terms of food and health. Thousands of years ago, humans explored the therapeutic power of plants and preferred to benefit from them to live healthily. According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of plants used for therapeutic purposes is around 20,000. Since the beginning of using plants for human health, the bioactivity characteristics of the plants have been studied in laboratories. There are various bioactive components in plants, the most important of which are secondary metabolites. It is very important how and by which methods the secondary metabolites of plants are characterized as well as their isolation, proper and effective performance of their extraction process and identification of their various biological activities that might be used in alternative medicine. This review examines the usability of supplementary medical support products after the identification of bioactive characteristics of plants by means of various biochemical and molecular biological methods.

Keywords: Plant; bioactive components; extraction; molecular biology; secondary metabolite.