Abstract
In a Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and Canada postwar development research collaboration, health authorities have identified type 2 diabetes (T2D) as a top health concern for the mountain community of Lukomir, B&H, located in the Bjelašnica of the Dinaric Alps. Lukomir lacks a health-care facility but is home to many traditional healers. A consensus ethnobotanical survey of plants was conducted with Lukomir Highlanders to identify plants used to treat diabetes and highly associated symptoms. Twenty-five people were interviewed, resulting in 41 species from 26 families. Physicians determined diabetes symptom association rank values, which were used to evaluate the syndromic importance value (SIV) function. SIVs were determined for families and species. Caryophyllaceae, Equisetaceae, Asteraceae, Ericaceae were the top-ranked antidiabetic families, and Matricaria matricarioides (Less.) Porter ex Britton, Silene spp., Achillea millefolium L., and Equisetum arvense L. were the top species. Five species were endemic, and Gentiana lutea L. is considered endangered. A cross-cultural comparison with the Cree of James Bay, Canada, revealed that Vaccinium was the only consensus genus. Extracts of Vaccinium myrtillus L. and V. vitis-idaea L. leaves were potent inhibitors of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and demonstrated concentration-dependent inhibition, with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) ranging from 12.43 to 44.09 µg mL−1. High-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS) confirmed the presence of (+)-catechin, chlorogenic acid, para coumaric acid, taxifolin, quercetin-3-O-galactoside, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, rutin, quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside, and myricetin. Rutin was absent in both species. This work provides a baseline study of available complimentary medicines for the T2D problem in the Lukomir community.
Dedicated to the memory of Sulejman Redžić.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Redžić (2008) translated Podrebnica, “under the ribs,” and explained that the name refers to the fern’s sori aligned in a chevron-like pattern on the ventral side of the frond, which resembles a rib cage. This pattern spurred the doctrine of signatures for usage of P. scolopendrium as a treatment for ailments under the ribs.
References
Ahmed N (2005) Advanced glycation endproducts—role in pathology of diabetic complications. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 67:3–21
Alberti G, Zimmet P, Shaw J et al (2004) Type 2 diabetes in the young the evolving epidemic. Diabetes Care 27:1798–1811. doi:10.2337/diacare.27.7.1798
Alberti KG, Zimmet PZ (1998) Definition, diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus and its complications. Part 1: diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus provisional report of a WHO consultation. Diabetic Med 15:539–553. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-9136(199807)15:7<539::AID-DIA668>3.0.CO;2-S
APG 3 (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 3) (2009) An update of the angiosperm phylogeny group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Bot J Linean Soc 161:105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x
Chapman L, Johns T, Mahunnah RLA (1997) Saponin-like in vitro characteristics of extracts from selected non-nutrient wild plant food additives used by Maasai in meat and milk based soups. Ecol Food Nutr 36:1–22. doi:10.1080/03670244.1997.9991502
Cox PA, Balick MJ (1994) The ethnobotanical approach to drug discovery. Sci Am 270:82–87
Domac R (1984) Mala flora hrvatske i susjednih područja. Školska Knijga, Zagreb
European Environment Agency (2012) Natura 2000. Biogeographic regions of Europe. http://discomap.eea.europa.eu. Accessed 23 May 2013
Farsi D, Harris C, Reid L et al (2008) Inhibition of non-enzymatic glycation by silk extracts from a Mexican land race and modern inbred lines of maize (Zea mays). Phytother Res 22:108–112
Ferrier J, Djeffal S, Morgan HP et al (2012) Antiglycation activity of Vaccinium spp. (Ericaceae) from the Sam Vander Kloet collection for the treatment of type II diabetes1. Botany 406:401–406. doi:10.1139/B2012-026
Ferrier J, Šačiragić L, Redžić S et al (2013) The ethnobotany of the Lukomir highlanders of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Dedicated to the memory of Sulejman Redžić (1954–2013). Ph. D. Thesis, University of Ottawa, Canada
Haston E, Richardson JE, Stevens PF et al (2009) The linear angiosperm phylogeny group (LAPG) III: a linear sequence of the families in APG III. Bot J Linn Soc 161:128–131
Hegele RA, Sun F, Harris SB et al (1999) Genome-wide scanning for type 2 diabetes susceptibility in Canadian Oji-Cree, using 190 microsatellite markers. J Hum Genet 44:10–14. doi:10.1007/s100380050097
Helin C (2006) Dances with dependency: indigenous success through self-reliance. Orca Spirit, Vancouver
IDF (2013) The global burden. International Diabetes Federation. http://www.idf.org/diabetesatlas/5e/the-global-burden. Accessed 5 Jul 2013
Johns T, Mahunnah RL, Sanaya P, et al (1999) Saponins and phenolic content in plant dietary additives of a traditional subsistence community, the Batemi of Ngorongoro District, Tanzania. J Ethnopharmacol 66:1–10
Leduc C, Coonishish J, Haddad P, Cuerrier A (2006) Plants used by the Cree nation of Eeyou Istchee (Quebec, Canada) for the treatment of diabetes: a novel approach in quantitative ethnobotany. J Ethnopharmacol 105:55–63. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2005.09.038
Lindhorst K (1998) Antioxidant activity of phenolic fraction of plant products ingested by the Maasai. Thesis, McGill University
McCune L, Johns T (2003) Symptom-specific antioxidant activity of boreal diabetes treatments. Pharm Biol 41:362–370
McCune LM, Johns T (2002) Antioxidant activity in medicinal plants associated with the symptoms of diabetes mellitus used by the indigenous peoples of the North American boreal forest. J Ethnopharmacol 82:197–205
McIntyre KL, Harris CS, Saleem A et al (2009) Seasonal phytochemical variation of anti-glycation principles in lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium). Planta Med 75:286–292. doi:10.1055/s-0028-1088394
Pieroni A, Quave CL (2006) Functional foods or food medicines? on the consumption of wild plants among Albanians and Southern Italians in Lucania. In: Pieroni A, Price Leimar L (eds) Eating and healing: traditional food as medicine. Haworth, Binghamton, pp 101–129
Redžić S (2008) The doctrine of signature use of Phyllitis scolopendrium (L.) Newman (Podrebnica)
Oubré AY, Carlson TJ, King SR, Reaven GM (1997) From plant to patient: an ethnomedical approach to the identification of new drugs for the treatment of NIDDM. Diabetologia 40:614–617. doi: 10.1007/s001250050724
Ritenbaugh C, Goodby CS (1989) Beyond the thrifty gene: metabolic implications of prehistoric migration into the New World. Med Anthropol 11:227–236. doi:10.1080/01459740.1989.9965995
Rønsted N, Savolainen V, Mølgaard P, Jäger AK (2008) Phylogenetic selection of Narcissus species for drug discovery. Biochem Syst Ecol 36:417–422. doi:10.1016/j.bse.2007.12.010
Saslis-Lagoudakis CH, Klitgaard BB, Forest F et al (2011) The use of phylogeny to interpret cross-cultural patterns in plant use and guide medicinal plant discovery: an example from Pterocarpus (Leguminosae). PLoS ONE 6:e22275. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022275
Saslis-Lagoudakis CH, Savolainen V, Williamson EM et al (2012) Phylogenies reveal predictive power of traditional medicine in bioprospecting. Proc Nat Acad Sci U S A 109:15835–15840. doi:10.1073/pnas.1202242109
Sengupta B, Uematsu T, Jacobsson P, Swenson J (2006) Exploring the antioxidant property of bioflavonoid quercetin in preventing DNA glycation: a calorimetric and spectroscopic study. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 339:355–361. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.11.019
Tropicos.org (2013) Tropicos. Missouri botanical garden. http://www.tropicos.org/. Accessed 10 Aug 2013
WHO (2013a) World health organization. Diabetes fact sheet no 312
WHO (2013b) Prevalence of diabetes in the world health organization European region. http://www.who.int/diabetes/facts/world_figures/en/index4.html. Accessed 30 Jun 2013
Young TK (1994) The health of native Americans: toward a biocultural epidemiology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 145–168
Young TK, Schraer CD, Shubnikoff EV et al (1992) Prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in circumpolar indigenous populations. Int J Epidemiol 21:730–736
Young TK, Reading J, Elias B, O’Neil JD (2000) Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Canada’s first nations: status of an epidemic in progress. Can Med Assoc J 163:561–566
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Lukomir Community for their hospitality and for sharing their knowledge and physicians for their symptom assessments: Rosie Dell, Fadi Hamadani, Lawrie Hamilton, and Megan Wilson. Adnan Šačiragić, Ejla Salihamidžić, Elvira Jahić, Harun Alikadić, the Kunjundzić family, Hana Zurić, Fondacija GEA+, and Michel Rapinski, for field, language, logistical support, and manuscript review. Indspire, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Alexander Graham Bell PGS award from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) supported Jonathan Ferrier’s research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ferrier, J. et al. (2014). Ways the Lukomir Highlanders of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treat Diabetes. In: Pieroni, A., Quave, C. (eds) Ethnobotany and Biocultural Diversities in the Balkans. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1492-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1492-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1491-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1492-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)