Ethnobotanical nutritional antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of costus speciosus koen

Abstract

Ayurveda as the ancient healing method in India has gradually increased in popularity in the western world as well. This ancient method of therapeutic suggests a blend of standard of living and its management which comprises of proper diet, exercise, meditation and healing with particular herbs and raw materials to treat various ailments. India is rich in natural herbs as well as therapeutic resource(s) comprising of nearly 20,000 plant species, out of which nearly 2,500 are of pharmacological importance. Moreover, there are still many plant species available which are not properly utilized rather exploited and their beneficial importances are ignored. Some of the cultivated species also have exceptional food values and curative properties. Ample food alternatives and cost effective medicines for healthy life style are the major demand of the world especially in India. Appropriate and detailed scientific studies can fetch solution to these problems by finding alternate available resource of food and remedy from the existing bio-wealth. newlineResearch data from the recent years, have focused on the search for new antimicrobial agents from herbal resources in accordance with developing antibiotic resistance by pathogens. In this regard, it is supposed that plant resources which are of extensive use in contemporary medicine could be urbanized for preparation of herbal drugs against Anti- Microbial Resistance (AMR). Novel, safe and effective plant derived herbal drugs are essential to overcome this present scenario. Keeping these in view, Costus speciosus Koen. was selected for our present investigation. newlineC. speciosus is most important species of family Costaceae. Costus is also known as Spiral ginger . It is a synonym of Cheilocostus speciosus (J. Konig) C. Specht. This plant is densely available in moist shady places, near road side ditches newline