Algas y plantas comercializadas como adelgazantes en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, Argentina

ARENAS P.M; DOUMECQ,MARIA BELEN; PUENTES, JEREMÍAS PEDRO; HURRELL, JULIO ALBERTO

Gaia Scientia

Universidade Federal de Paraíba,Progama de Pós-graduação em Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente

Año: 2015 vol. 9 p. 32 - 40

This paper includes the results of an ethnobotanical study of plants and algae marketed as slimming in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The study is part of a research line in Urban Ethnobotany developed in LEBA. The evaluation of slimming products is relevant since obesity is of growing concern to a broad section of the population of large urban agglomerations. These products generally are touted for its natural ingredients that control appetite, provide satiety, reduce fat absorption and increase the basal metabolism. One hundred and twenty stores were surveyed and 240 informants were interviewed. In addition, information labels, catalogs and flyers, which help people to guide the selection of products to consume, and the literature on biological effects and activities that validate the uses assigned was revised. Sixty species are presented, 48 of vascular plants and 12 of algae, and its value as a slimming was discussed.