Asthma and phytotherapy treatments in Northeastern Brazil

The present article was conducted with the purpose of investigating the traditional treatments of folk medicine for asthma in Northeastern Brazil, in order to identify the ingredients, recipes, cultural-historical survey, etc. in its phytotherapeutic basis. The research included a bibliographic review phase; and later, a field research, using a semi-structured questionnaire, applied among residents of the cities of Recife-PE, Ouricuri-PE, Juazeiro do Norte-CE, and Picos-PI. It was verified that there is a great use of biological plant varieties (among them 59.46% correspond to native species) and that the phytotherapic practices are renewed with the use of new species, by adaptation of man to the environment, expanding the range of resources used. It is evident that the Northeast region of Brazil presents a valuable knowledge of popular medicine with traces of phytotherapy, which has been renewed over time, integrating new plant species to traditional medicine, even as a way to adapt to the reality of the availability of natural resources currently present in their regions.