Ethnobotanical Profiling of Commonly Utilized Plants for Hypertension and Diabetes in the Province of Laguna, Philippines

The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes is on a steady upsurge worldwide and it has been identified as top ten leading causes of mortality in the Philippines. Plants have been prepared and evaluated for their potential as good antihypertensive and hypoglycemic drugs and provide clues for the development of new and better oral drugs for hypertension and diabetes. Descriptive method of research and purposive sampling technique were used to identify and determine the plants utilized by the people of the province of Laguna for the treatment of the two diseases. The findings of the study revealed that soursop is mostly utilized for the treatment of both hypertension and diabetes. Results also disclosed that screwpine, mangosteen, salamander tree and lemon grass besides soursop are mostly utilized for the treatment of hypertension. Further, it entails that bitter gourd, horseradish, and snakeroot are mostly utilized for the treatment of diabetes. Leaves are mostly utilized for medicinal consumption and are prepared by decoction in the form of tea that is drunk one to three times a day.