A laconic review on potential herbals as antiasthmatic agents

Asthma is a condition in which a person’s airways become inflamed, narrowed, swollen, and produce excessive mucus, making it difficult to breathe due to some allergens such as pollen, dust mites, mould spores, pet dander, particles of cockroach waste etc. The word “asthma” originates from the Greek meaning short of breath, meaning that any patient with breathlessness was asthmatic. The term was refined in the latter part of the 19^th Century with the publication of a treatise by Henry Hyde Salter entitled “On Asthma and its Treatment”. Asthma is a common condition diagnosed in as many as 25% of Scottish children by the age of 11 years. Childhood asthma is heterogeneous in terms of severity. In traditional system of medicines, plants herbs like ginger, Echinacea, garlic etc. are used in the treatment of asthma. Medicinal plants have been known for millennia and are highly esteemed all over the world as a rich source of therapeutic agents for the prevention of diseases and ailments. The importance of herbal medicine in the treatment of asthma is indisputable. This review highlights the etiology of asthma and few plants which are known to show antiasthmatic activity which are popular in traditional system of medicine.