Lifesaving Medicines Made From Plants You've Never Heard Of

Many people have the impression that modern medicine is all about fancy equipment and complicated sounding drugs. It seems like nothing in a Doctor's arsenal of treatments could be remotely 'natural'. But behind the scenes, researchers have been looking to nature for inspiration all along.

For millions of years, plants have been concocting chemical weapons to fight pests and defend themselves from pesky plant eating animals. Many of these chemicals are effective defence mechanisms because they have biological effects in the animals that consume them. For example, the opium poppy contains compounds that make animals sleepy and drowsy. Through extensive trial and error, humans have been able to find many biologically active compounds in nature and turn them into medicines.

In this video, I look at 5 of my favourite medicines that were originally drived from plants:
#5: Paclitaxel
#4: Morphine
#3: Artemisinin
#2: Aspirin
#1: Metformin

Many of the original compounds that led to the development of these medicines were toxic to humans. So it's not that nature has all the answers. Nature provides us with clues. It then took the curiosity and ingenuity of many researchers to put these clues together and see beyond the obvious. Today, hundreds of medicines that are used in modern medicines have been inspired by nature.

#medicines #nature #docunlock

Full transcript:

References and Further reading:
Paclitaxel:
Morphine:
Artemisinin:
Aspirin:
Metformin:

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Video credits:

Certain illustrations adapted from and (brgfx / Freepik)

Music:
Motionarray (affiliate link):
Song: Fredji - Flying High. Music provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Video Link:

Photos:
Pacific Yew:
Susan Horowitz:
Opium Poppy:
Freidrich Sertürner:
Morpheus:
Artemisia Annua:
Ancient Egyptian Papyrus:
Hippocrates:
Galega Officinalis:

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