Phytochemical composition and health properties of Sembung plant (Blumea balsamifera): A review

Vet World Vol.14 May-2021 Article-17

Review Article

Veterinary World, 14(5): 1185-1196

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.1185-1196

I. Gede Widhiantara^1,2 and I. Made Jawi³

1. Medical Science Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Jalan P.B. Sudirman, Denpasar City, Bali Province 80234, Indonesia.
2. Study Program of Biology, Faculty of Health, Science, and Technology, Dhyana Pura University, Jalan Raya Padang Luwih, Dalung, North Kuta, Badung, Bali Province 80361, Indonesia.
3. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Udayana University, Jalan P.B. Sudirman, Denpasar City, Bali Province 80234, Indonesia.

Background and Aim: Indonesia's mindset has been focusing on the use of natural medicines, food, and healing practices widely recognized by the nation's culture. Traditional medicines and herbs used in traditional medicine can often lead to the discovery of drugs against certain diseases. The aim of this review was to study evidence-based data on the importance of Sembung plant, Blumea balsamifera, as a potential traditional medicine. The distribution, ethnopharmacology, secondary metabolites, and bioactivity against several diseases are focused in this review. Information and research related to Sembung plant were searched using the terms "B. balsamifera," "phytochemicals," and "pharmacological activity" on ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, and scientific information-based databases up to 2020. Several ethnomedical articles recommend B. balsamifera for the treatment of sinusitis, colic pain, cough, kidney stones, flu, or as a diuretic. This knowledge has already been applied in several countries in Southeast Asia. B. balsamifera has been reported to contain several phytochemicals both volatile (terpenoids, fatty acids, phenols, alcohol, aldehydes, ethers, ketones, pyridines, furans, and alkanes) and non-volatile (flavonoids, flavanones, and chalcones). Extracts and phytochemicals of B. balsamifera contain several biological capacities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, anti-infertility, hepatoprotective activity, antidiabetic, gastroprotective, antitumor, anticancer, and immunomodulatory agent against Coronavirus disease-19 infection. This review provides essential data for the potential application of B. balsamifera as a nutraceutical or in future medicinal preparations.

Keywords: Asteraceae, Blumea balsamifera, future medicine, medicinal uses, phytochemical constituents.

How to cite this article: Widhiantara IG, Jawi IM (2021) Phytochemical composition and health properties of Sembung plant (Blumea balsamifera): A review, Veterinary World, 14(5): 1185-1196.

Received: 04-12-2020 Accepted: 25-03-2021 Published online: 17-05-2021

Corresponding author: I. Gede Widhiantara E-mail: widhiantara@undhirabali.ac.id

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1185-1196

Copyright: Widhiantara and Jawi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.