A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON THE MAGICAL INDIAN FOLK MEDICINE: PIPER BETLE LINN

India has rich resources of medicinal plants and their uses in Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha traditional medicine is quite popular around the world. There are over 2000 medicinal plant species, amongst them, Piper betle Linn. (Paan) is one of the most used ones. It is cultivated mainly in South-East Asia like Vietnam, Srilanka, Pakistan, China and India. Some phytochemical studies have found that betel leaf contains a wide variety of biologically active compounds such as Eugenol, Allylpyrocatechol, Methyl Eugenol, Chavibetol, Hydroxychavicol, Triterpenes and β-Caryophyllene. These help in treating many diseases like diabetes, stomach ulcer, cancer, obesity, swelling of gum, malaria, rheumatism, cuts and injuries, etc. This review article is a compilation of traditional, phytochemistry, therapeutic as well as nutraceutical properties of betel leaf based on scientific evidence.