Cologne (Alpinia zerumbet): a new niche for agribusiness?

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the possibility of Alpinia zerumbet (a species commonly used in ornamentation and well known by indigenous communities for its medicinal properties) to become a new niche for agribusiness (considering that it has no significant participation in the agricultural market) through the observation of its chemical and medicinal properties and the need for this product for medicine and for the population, considering the fact that agriculture is the basis of all the raw material of the industrial herbal medicine . Therefore, the methodology sought research that proves the efficiency of medicinal properties that A. zerumbet has, comparing them with the references that demonstrate the real need of these properties for the treatment of the diverse diseases that the phytotherapic of this species has effect. Given this research, it was observed that A. zerumbet has the following medicinal properties: antioxidant, muscle relaxant, antinociceptivo, anxiolytic, antimicrobial, neuronal excitability, anti- hypertensive, vasorelaxant and has the ability to increase the partial saturation of oxygenand cardiac hypertrophy. These properties are efficient in the treatment and prevention of many diseases that occur in a large part of the population of Brazil and the world. Thus, it is estimated that the demand for herbal medicines from A. zerumbet is high, thus being a new possibility for the growth of agribusiness and also of the pharmaceutical market.