Herbal Plants Role in Prevention and Management of Various Cancers in Community

Globally cancer is a disease which severely effects the human population. There is a constant demand for new therapies to treat and prevent this life-threatening disease. Scientific and research interest is drawing its attention towards naturally-derived compounds as they are considered to have less toxic side effects compared to current treatments such as chemotherapy. The Plant Kingdom produces naturally occurring secondary metabolites which are being investigated for their anticancer activities leading to the development of new clinical drugs. Cancer has been a constant battle globally with a lot of development in cures and preventative therapies. The disease is characterized by cells in the human body continually multiplying with the inability to be controlled or stopped. Consequently, forming tumours of malignant cells with the potential to be metastatic. Current treatments include chemotherapy, radiotherapy and chemically derived drugs. Treatments such as chemotherapy can put patients under a lot of strain and further damage their health. Therefore, there is a focus on using alternative treatments and therapies against cancer. For many years herbal medicines have been used and are still used in developing countries as the primary source of medical treatment. Plants have been used in medicine for their natural antiseptic properties. Thus, research has developed into investigating the potential properties and uses of terrestrial plants extracts for the preparation of potential nanomaterial based drugs for diseases including cancer. Many plant species are already being used to treat or prevent development of cancer. Multiple researchers have identified species of plants that have demonstrated anticancer properties with a lot of focus on those that have been used in herbal medicine in developing countries to treat cancer.