Available online 19 January 2015
Since
ancient times people have been observing nature carefully and were able
to find plants for food, medicine, clothes, shelter and fuel in their
direct environment. This process still continues and is now known as
bioprospecting. Particularly in biotechnology and in the development of
medicines there have been quite some activities in finding novel
products from nature. Particularly in the past years interests in
exploring nature has increased in an endeavor to make our presence and
activities in this world more sustainable. Much of the industrial
bioprospecting is based on fast screening methods for e.g. a
pharmacological effect or an enzyme activity. These methods are very
efficient and in some molecular based bioassays all plants of the world
could probably be screened in just a few days. But at the same time it
becomes clear from basic research that human health is very complex and
that it is not likely that a single molecule will be able to cure
diseases which often have multifactorial causes. Obviously infectious
and parasitic diseases might be cured by single compounds, as it
concerns exogenous organisms that invade the body. Though in that case
development of drug-resistance of these organisms is becoming a major
problem.
Health is a complex,
but robust state of the body. It is determined by external factors (the
environment), genetic factors and age. The homeostasis, typical for
health, is maintained as well as affected by food and medicines.
Prevention and controlling risk factors are important aspects in keeping
homeostasis. With the rapid development of centralized food preparation
and fast food, old traditions and common knowledge of “what to eat
when” are disappearing. The fast spreading of, for example, diabetes
type 2 and obesitas are signs that we should look for novel approaches
to stay healthy and reach the 125 years of age that some experts predict
as being feasible for humans. Besides basic research on health and
diseases, we may return to the knowledge of our ancestors as a valuable
resource of tens of thousands years of observations of nature and human
health. The personalized medicine is, for example, an interesting
approach. The remark of Allen Roses (Anonymous, 2014),
vice-president of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline: “The vast majority of
drugs – more than 90 per cent – only work in 30 or 50 per cent of the
people” shows that a personalized treatment also in western
pharmacotherapy might be of interest. Apparently the number game of
screening large numbers of compounds to find novel leads for drug
development results in medicines that for many users do not work.
Considering
the present problems to develop methods for prevention and novel
treatments of diseases I am very happy with this interesting special
issue series of international experts give a historical, cultural and
scientific background to food, medicinal, or ritual (usually affecting
the CNS) plants. Reading the various papers in this issue will be a
source of inspiration and new ideas for future research. Our ancestors
found important plants like poppy and cannabis; a number of plants
containing caffeine; and plants containing alkaloids with a curare
effect, without the aid of any of our …scopy and …omics tools, just by
common sense and observations made by their own senses. With all the
scientific knowledge and tools we have now really great perspectives for
discovering novel information concerning the role of food and medicinal
plants for our health by starting from what our ancestors already
discovered.
References
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.
Editorial
