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...
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
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...