Hwong Chia Shing, Leong Kok Hoong, Abdul Aziz Azlina, Mat Junit Sarni, Mohd Noor Suzita, Kong Kin Weng
Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2022 Nov 15;298:115608. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2022.115608. Epub 2022 Aug 13.
Weeds are often considered undesirable as they interfere with the habitat of native plants, and therefore they are underestimated and underutilised. In fact, some edible weeds have beneficial nutritional and medicinal values. Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br. ex DC., an edible medicinal weed is a species of the Amaranthaceae family that consists of two cultivars: green and red. Local communities in different regions have traditionally consumed the plants as food and medicine, with the green cultivar being applied to relieve pain, treat wound healing, dysentery, asthma and hypertension, while the red cultivar is applied to prevent cardiovascular and liver diseases in general.
The present review intends to provide an in-depth discussion and scientific basis of A. sessilis green and red's health-promoting properties in relation to their ethnobotanical use, nutritional components and bioactive compounds.
The literature search was conducted using relevant keywords on scientific search engines such as the Web of Science, Google Scholar, Medline and Scopus.
A. sessilis shows potent antioxidant activity as a result of its diverse phytochemical constituents, such as polyphenols, terpenes, alkaloid and carotenoids in addition to its nutritional components: vitamin C, E and unsaturated fatty acids, which contribute to its various bioactive properties: anti-microbial and anthelmintic, anti-diabetic, lipid lowering, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, anti-cancer and other biological activities. Toxicity evaluation revealed the absence of adverse effect of A. sesslis extracts.
A. sessilis has a great potential to be used as complementary medicine and ingredients for pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and functional foods, instead of being regarded as a pest. Prospects for enhancing the development and commercialisation of this edible medicinal weed as a high value health-promoting product are suggested.
杂草常常因其干扰本土植物的生长环境而被视为不受欢迎的植物，因此它们被低估且未得到充分利用。事实上，一些可食用杂草具有有益的营养和药用价值。莲子草（Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br. ex DC.）是一种可食用的药用杂草，属于苋科，有绿色和红色两个品种。不同地区的当地社区传统上一直将这种植物作为食物和药物食用，绿色品种用于缓解疼痛、治疗伤口愈合、痢疾、哮喘和高血压，而红色品种一般用于预防心血管疾病和肝脏疾病。
本综述旨在深入讨论莲子草绿色和红色品种在民族植物学用途、营养成分和生物活性化合物方面促进健康特性的科学依据。
使用科学搜索引擎（如科学网、谷歌学术、医学在线数据库和Scopus）上的相关关键词进行文献检索。
莲子草由于其多样的植物化学成分，如多酚、萜类、生物碱和类胡萝卜素，以及其营养成分：维生素C、E和不饱和脂肪酸，表现出强大的抗氧化活性，这些成分共同赋予了它多种生物活性：抗菌和驱虫、抗糖尿病、降血脂、抗炎和镇痛活性、抗癌及其他生物活性。毒性评估表明莲子草提取物没有不良反应。
莲子草有很大潜力用作补充药物以及制药、营养保健品和功能性食品的成分，而不是被视为一种害虫。文中还提出了将这种可食用药用杂草开发并商业化成为高价值健康促进产品的前景。
