Ethnopharmacological relevance: Gastrointestinal disorders cause morbidity and can lead to mortality,
especially in the developing world where sanitation is deficient. A large part of the human population
relies on medicinal plants for treating various diseases, including gastrointestinal disorders. The present
review summarizes the traditional uses of medicinal plants of Nepal used to treat gastrointestinal
disorders, and evaluates their bio-efficacy based on a review of the available phytochemical and
pharmacological literature.
Material and methods: We searched different electronic databases and libraries for the literature on
medicinal plants used in Nepal to treat gastrointestinal disorders. For each species, we also searched the
literature for information on conservation status, as well as for phytochemical and pharmacological
studies in support of the ethnobotanical information. We used principal component analysis to explore
the relation among disorders and plant families, plant life forms, plant parts and preparation modes. We
also performed permutation tests to determine if botanical families were used more often than expected
considering their availability in the Nepali flora.
Results: We documented a total of 947 species belonging to 158 families and 586 genera used to treat
gastrointestinal disorders in Nepal. Diarrhea was the disorder treated by the highest number of species
(348), followed by stomachache (340) and dysentery (307). Among the reported species, five were
endemic to Nepal, whereas 16 orchid species were protected under CITES Appendices II and III. The
randomization test showed that species belonging to 14 families were used less often than expected,
whereas plants belonging to 25 families were used more often than expected. The PCA scatter plot
showed distinct groups of gastrointestinal disorders treated with similar plant life forms, plant parts,
and/or preparation modes. We found 763 phytochemical studies on 324 species and 654 pharmacological
studies on 269 species.
Conclusion: We showed the diversity and importance of medicinal plants used to treat gastrointestinal
disorders in the traditional health care system of Nepal. As such disorders are still causing several deaths each
year, it is of the utmost importance to conduct phytochemical and pharmacological studies on the most
promising species. It is also crucial to increase access to traditional medicine, especially in rural areas.
Threatened species need special attention for traditional herbal medicine to be exploited sustainably