Year: 2026
Type: review
Study design: Systematic Review
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.
Source: Frontiers in Pharmacology
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223089557