ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the results of empirical investigations on Igbo phytotherapeutic agents and addresses some of the potential implications of changing indigenous patterns of plant utilization. Food plant constituents may be divided into two broad categories: the support materials and the non-nutritional biochemicals. The choice of a plant as food or medicine in Igboland is dictated largely by their conceptualization of life. The domestication of plants in Igboland perhaps predates the history of the Igbos. The culture and civilization of the Igbo people are inextricable from their knowledge of plants as sources of food, shelter, and medicine. The antiphlogistic activity of Lonchocarpus cyanescens has been confirmed in laboratory animals and attributed to the oleanane derivatives isolated from the plant. The “chemical factor” in food helps to distinguish the various dietary cultures of peoples from diverse parts of the world and may contribute to the different patterns of health and disease observed in those populations.
