PLOS global public health
2025
Ilana Berlowitz, Maria Amalia Pesantes, Cynthia Cárdenas Palacios et al.
6 citations
Peru is among Latin American countries with the largest Indigenous population, yet ethnical health disparities persist, particularly in the Amazon region which comprises 60% of the national territory. Healthcare models that include Indigenous medicine and traditional healers present an important avenue for addressing such inequalities, as they increase cultural adequacy of services, healthcare...
Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education
December 1, 2024
Ilana Berlowitz, Ernesto García Torres, Juan Celidonio Ruiz Macedo et al.
3 citations
Although the tobacco plant has been employed as a medicinal and sacred herb by Indigenous cultures across the Americas, its usage drastically changed after the 15th-century colonial arrival; its large-scale commodification and global marketing once brought to Europe lead to hedonic and addictive uses harmful to health. As a consequence, tobacco smoking is now one of the largest public health...
Plants
January 11, 2023
Ilana Berlowitz, Ernesto García Torres, Caroline Maake et al.
14 citations
Harmful usage of tobacco is a global public health problem associated with adverse health effects and addiction. Yet, in the Peruvian Amazon, the native region of Nicotiana rustica L., this plant is used in remarkably different manners: it is considered a potent medicinal plant, applied in liquid form for oral ingestion to treat mental health problems, a common and ancient healing practice in...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
May 2, 2022
Ilana Berlowitz, Klemens Egger, Paul Cumming
32 citations
The monoamine oxidases (MAOs) are flavin-containing amine oxidoreductases responsible for metabolism of many biogenic amine molecules in the brain and peripheral tissues. Whereas serotonin is the preferred substrate of MAO-A, phenylethylamine is metabolized by MAO-B, and dopamine and tyramine are nearly ambivalent with respect to the two isozymes. β-Carboline alkaloids such as harmine,...
Journal of Ethnopharmacology
March 25, 2022
Ilana Berlowitz, David M O'Shaughnessy, Michael Heinrich et al.
26 citations
Indigenous groups of the Amazon have developed intricate methods for the application of psychoactives, among which particularly the dieta or diet method of Peruvian-Amazonian traditional medicine stands out. It is a retreat-like intervention involving lengthy periods of social, behavioural, and alimentary restrictions, while ingesting specially prepared plant substances. The interplay of the...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
May 28, 2021
David M. O’shaughnessy, Ilana Berlowitz
21 citations
Background: In Peruvian Amazonian medicine, plant diets ( dietas ) are a fundamental and highly flexible technique with a variety of uses: from treating and preventing illness, to increasing strength and resilience, to rites of passage, to learning even medicine itself. Many of the plants used in diets are psychoactive; for example, one now well-known plant that can be dieted is Banisteriopsis...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
2021
David M. O’shaughnessy, Ilana Berlowitz, Robin Rodd et al.
Aims: The therapeutic use of psychedelics is regaining scientific momentum, but similarly psychoactive ethnobotanical substances have a long history of medical (and other) uses in indigenous contexts. Here we aimed to evaluate patient outcomes in a residential addiction treatment center that employs a novel combination of Western and traditional Amazonian methods. Methods: The study was...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
October 7, 2020
Ilana Berlowitz, Ernesto García Torres, Heinrich Walt et al.
43 citations
Introduction Harmful usage of tobacco is a public health problem of global concern and, in many countries, the main risk factor for non-communicable diseases. Yet, in the Peruvian Amazon, the geographical region believed to be tobacco’s historical birthplace, this plant is associated with a strikingly different usage and repute: Tobacco (especially Nicotiana rustica L.) in this area is...
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
July 1, 2020
Ilana Berlowitz, Heinrich Walt, Christian Ghasarian et al.
19 citations
Our results suggest that the Amazonian medicine-based therapy attracts a diverse patient group not limited to regional residents and may be particularly appealing to more impaired SUD patients with a history of unsuccessful treatment. The sample's cultural diversity suggests an existing interest in such therapies among international SUD treatment-seeking patients. These findings are relevant in...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2019
Ilana Berlowitz, Heinrich Walt, Christian Ghasarian et al.
70 citations
Chronic illness management today commonly involves alternative medicines. Substance use disorder (SUD), as a chronic psychosomatic illness, might benefit from a similar approach. The accredited Takiwasi Center offers such an SUD treatment program involving Amazonian medicine combined with psychotherapy. The current study assessed this integrative program's short-term therapeutic effects. We...
Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry
December 16, 2017
Ilana Berlowitz, Christian Ghasarian, Heinrich Walt et al.
39 citations
OBJECTIVE: The harmful use of psychoactive substances represents one of today's largest public health problems. Yet, in spite of its global relevance, current treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) is still not entirely successful. The purpose of this study was to investigate alternative treatments and conceptions from traditional Amazonian medicine adapted to SUDs. METHODS: We conducted...