UNAIR NEWS – Increasing endurance or maintaining good stamina is important. Maya Septriana SSi Apt Msi, a lecturer of the Traditional Medicine Study Program Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) explained several ways to improve the body’s immunity independently at home.
She explained that one way is by consuming herbs or herbal medicine. According to her, herbal medicine is traditional medicine with empirical data, which is based on evidence of efficacy through experience of people who have consumed the herbal medicine for generations.
“Traditional medicine was famous due to its hereditary nature, but now it has developed with scientific evidence,” she explained.
She explained some examples of herbs that are easy to find: turmeric, temulawak, ginger, lemongrass, moringa, aromatic ginger, and creat.
These herbal plants contain useful active substances such as curcuminoids and ukanon types A, B, C and D in turmeric ( Curcuma domestica ), which can improve body resistance; fenandrean, fumerol, curcumin and desmethoxycurcumin in temulawak ( Curcuma Xanthorriza). The content of this herbal plant is effective as an antioxidant and immunostimulant, ginger ( Zingiber officinale) contains gingerol, oleoresin and shogaol, which has an immunomodulatory effect.
“Moreover, there are also antivirals such as lemongrass ( Cymbopogon Nardus) and cloves ( Syzygium Aromaticum ),” she said.
These plants are easy to obtain or are often referred to as family medicinal plants (Toga). Given its extraordinary benefits for the body and easy cultivation, Maya suggested people grow them.
“We can plant them ourselves in the yard, later we can use them for making a decoction of the plant to be used as herbal medicine,” said the lecturer.
In addition, there are also examples of jamu (herbal medicine) that are often easy to find in the community. For example, tamarind turmeric, beras kencur, and herbal drink such as wedang uwuh, wedang pokak, and so on to improve body resistance because they contain several herbs with active substances to strengthen stamina.
The community can also process herbal plants into infused drinks or decoction, namely the boiling process with special techniques. The pot used for its production also needs to be considered. It should be made of earthenware or stainless steel pans and not aluminum.
Lastly, Maya also reminded that although herbs are included in natural ingredients, they still have contraindications, so people should pay attention to the dose and the rules of use.
Author: Jihan Aura
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
