Traditional medicinal plants in the Unified Health System of Brazil: a systematic review
5 affiliations
- 1Postgraduate Program in Environment and Development (PPGAD), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates
- 2Department of Law and Political Science, Universidad de la Costa
- 3School of Law, Universidad Señor de Sipán
- 4Law School and Medical School, Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates
- 5Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universidad de la Costa
Abstract
The Brazilian National List of Medicinal Plants of Interest to the Unified Health System (RENISUS) was created to guide the incorporation of botanical drugs into public health policies and services, but how far that validation actually extends—and how unevenly it is distributed across species—remains an open question. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on the 71 RENISUS species using major bibliographic databases and institutional documents, without language restrictions. Studies were included if they reported pharmacological, toxicological, clinical, or ethnobotanical findings that bear on human health. Records were screened, selected, and mapped to each species, and plants were descriptively classified according to the predominant level of evidence. Five species had sufficient human clinical data to warrant in-depth analysis: Anacardium occidentale L. (Anacardiaceae), Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. (Bromeliaceae), Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae), Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. (Fabaceae), and Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (Bignoniaceae). A preliminary database search retrieved 12,450 initial records. After deduplication, 9,070 unique records were screened against eligibility criteria, ultimately yielding 753 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. In vitro and in vivo studies accounted for most of the literature on RENISUS species. Clinical trials, where they exist at all, cover a narrow subset. The five focal species showed promising findings for wound healing, oral mucositis, gynecological conditions, metabolic regulation, and oncological support, alongside safety concerns—namely hepatotoxicity and herb–drug interactions—that, in some cases, should have surfaced in pharmacovigilance before reaching the literature as case reports. RENISUS encompasses a high diversity of medicinal plants with variable degrees of scientific validation. These findings provide a system-wide evidence baseline for the 71 RENISUS species and offer a practical framework for research prioritization, regulatory decision-making, and the evidence-guided incorporation of medicinal plants into the Brazilian Unified Health System.
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BibTeX
@article{rempel2026traditional,
title = {{Traditional medicinal plants in the Unified Health System of Brazil: a systematic review}},
author = {Claudete Rempel and Diego Hernández-Guzmán and Iván Vargas-Chaves and Luciana Turatti and Beliña Annery Herrera-Tapias and Amanda Raquel Pelle and Alessandra Lotes Luchesi and Heidis Cano and Atenas Mercedes Gutiérrez-Reyes and Tais Regina Fiegenbaum and Diana Pinto and Sandro Fröhlich},
journal = {Frontiers in Pharmacology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fphar.2026.1867902},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2026.1867902/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Traditional medicinal plants in the Unified Health System of Brazil: a systematic review
AU - Claudete Rempel
AU - Diego Hernández-Guzmán
AU - Iván Vargas-Chaves
AU - Luciana Turatti
AU - Beliña Annery Herrera-Tapias
AU - Amanda Raquel Pelle
AU - Alessandra Lotes Luchesi
AU - Heidis Cano
AU - Atenas Mercedes Gutiérrez-Reyes
AU - Tais Regina Fiegenbaum
AU - Diana Pinto
AU - Sandro Fröhlich
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Frontiers in Pharmacology
DO - 10.3389/fphar.2026.1867902
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2026.1867902/full
AB - The Brazilian National List of Medicinal Plants of Interest to the Unified Health System (RENISUS) was created to guide the incorporation of botanical drugs into public health policies and services, but how far that validation actually extends—and how unevenly it is distributed across species—remains an open question. We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on the 71 RENISUS species using major bibliographic databases and institutional documents, without language restrictions. Studies were included if they reported pharmacological, toxicological, clinical, or ethnobotanical findings that bear on human health. Records were screened, selected, and mapped to each species, and plants were descriptively classified according to the predominant level of evidence. Five species had sufficient human clinical data to warrant in-depth analysis: Anacardium occidentale L. (Anacardiaceae), Ananas comosus (L.) Merr. (Bromeliaceae), Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae), Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. (Fabaceae), and Handroanthus impetiginosus (Mart. ex DC.) Mattos (Bignoniaceae). A preliminary database search retrieved 12,450 initial records. After deduplication, 9,070 unique records were screened against eligibility criteria, ultimately yielding 753 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. In vitro and in vivo studies accounted for most of the literature on RENISUS species. Clinical trials, where they exist at all, cover a narrow subset. The five focal species showed promising findings for wound healing, oral mucositis, gynecological conditions, metabolic regulation, and oncological support, alongside safety concerns—namely hepatotoxicity and herb–drug interactions—that, in some cases, should have surfaced in pharmacovigilance before reaching the literature as case reports. RENISUS encompasses a high diversity of medicinal plants with variable degrees of scientific validation. These findings provide a system-wide evidence baseline for the 71 RENISUS species and offer a practical framework for research prioritization, regulatory decision-making, and the evidence-guided incorporation of medicinal plants into the Brazilian Unified Health System.
SN - 1663-9812
ER -