Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182, United States.
National Herbarium of Tanzania, Tropical Pesticide Research Institute, Arusha, Tanzania.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2018 Apr 24;216:191-202. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.01.022. Epub 2018 Feb 2.
Pastoralist Maasai populations of east Africa use several different wild plants as dietary and medicinal additives in beverages (soups and teas), yet little is known about how the plants used and the rationales for use compare and contrast across different Maasai beverages, including how gender specific dietary and health concerns structure patterns of intake.
We investigated three Maasai beverages: almajani (tea or herbal infusion); motorí (traditional soup); and okiti (psychoactive herbal tea). In order to build knowledge about the cultural functions of these Maasai food-medicines and their incidence of use we also investigated use rationales and self-reported frequencies of use. We conclude by examining gender differences and the possible pharmacological antimicrobial activity of the most frequently used plants.
Research was conducted in 2015, with a population of semi-nomadic agropastoralist Maasai residing in northern Tanzania. Data were collected using key informant interviews, plant collections, n = 32 structured surveys, and n = 40 freelist interviews followed by a literature review to determine the known antimicrobial activity of the most used plants.
We identified 20 plants that Maasai add to soup, 11 in tea, and 11 in the psychoactive tea, for a total of 24 herbal additives. Seven plant species were used in all three Maasai beverages, and these clustered with 10 common ailments. Based on self-reports, women use the beverages less frequently and in smaller amounts than men. There were also several gender differences in the plants that Maasai add to motorí and their associated use rationales.
There are several intersections concerning the plant species used and their associated rationales for use in almajani, motori, and okiti. Moving outward, Maasai beverages and their additives increasingly involve gender specific concerns. Female use of food-medicines, relative to men, is structured by concerns over pregnancy, birth, and lactation. The frequent consumption of herbal additives, many of which contain antimicrobial compounds, potentially helps modulate infections, but could have other unintentional effects as well.
东非的游牧马赛人将几种不同的野生植物作为饮食和药用添加剂添加到饮料（汤和茶）中，但对于马赛人使用的植物以及不同马赛人饮料中使用的原理如何进行比较和对比，包括特定于性别的饮食和健康问题如何影响摄入模式，知之甚少。
我们研究了三种马赛饮料：almajani（茶或草药浸剂）；motorí（传统汤）；和 okiti（精神活性草药茶）。为了了解这些马赛药食的文化功能及其使用频率，我们还研究了使用原理和自我报告的使用频率。最后，我们通过检查性别差异和最常使用的植物可能具有的药理学抗菌活性来得出结论。
研究于 2015 年在坦桑尼亚北部的半游牧农业马赛人中进行。使用关键知情人访谈、植物采集、n = 32 项结构化调查和 n = 40 项自由列表访谈收集数据，然后进行文献综述，以确定最常用植物的已知抗菌活性。
我们确定了 20 种马赛人添加到汤中的植物，11 种添加到茶中，11 种添加到精神活性茶中，共有 24 种草药添加剂。七种植物在三种马赛饮料中都有使用，并且这些植物与十种常见疾病有关。根据自我报告，女性比男性使用这些饮料的频率和数量都要少。马赛人在 motorí 中添加的植物及其相关使用原理也存在一些性别差异。
在 almajani、motori 和 okiti 中使用的植物种类及其相关使用原理存在几个交叉点。向外延伸，马赛人的饮料及其添加剂越来越多地涉及特定于性别的问题。与男性相比，女性对怀孕、分娩和哺乳的担忧影响了她们对药食的使用。经常食用草药添加剂，其中许多含有抗菌化合物，可能有助于调节感染，但也可能产生其他意外影响。
