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SCIENCE AND LAW

What your grandmothers knew, science is confirming. And Peruvian law backs it up.

For a long time it was called superstition. Today there are peer-reviewed journals studying it, and a Peruvian legal framework that recognises traditional medicine as part of the health system. It does not work against modern medicine: it is what the law calls complementary medicine, used alongside treatment and never instead of it.

WHAT HAS BEEN STUDIED

• Muña or chancua (Minthostachys mollis)

  Its essential oil showed in vitro antifungal activity, and its metabolites were characterised in the Peruvian medical journal of the National Institute of Health.

  Cano et al., 2008 · Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública

• Muña: the warning that matters too

  A 2019 study measured the essential oil and found a mild inflammatory infiltrate in 80 % of cases. Dose and preparation change everything, and natural does not mean harmless.

  Rojas-Armas et al., 2019 · Potential Toxicity of the Essential Oil from Minthostachys mollis

• Cat's claw (Uncaria tomentosa)

  A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities of its extracts.

  Arado et al., 2024 · systematic review and meta-analysis

• Northern Peru, documented

  In communities of the north, the use of medicinal plants against epilepsy was recorded: the same logic as your grandmothers, observing, testing and passing the learning down.

  Auditeau et al., 2018 · Journal of Ethnopharmacology 215: 184-190

And some prudence: the World Health Organization notes that less than 1 % of global health research funding goes to traditional medicine, so the evidence is still uneven. That is why the Peruvian framework asks for common sense: the knowledge is passed on, but it does not replace modern medicine.

WHAT PERUVIAN LAW SAYS

• Legislative Decree No. 584 · 1990

  Created the National Institute of Traditional Medicine (INMETRA), the first attempt by the Peruvian State to bring traditional medicine into its public health policies.

• Law No. 27300 · 2000

  Regulates and promotes the sustainable use of medicinal plants, and entrusts INMETRA with drawing up and approving the National Herbal Pharmacopoeia.

• Law No. 27657 · 2002

  Creates the Intercultural Health National Centre (CENSI) within the National Institute of Health and extends recognition to alternative and complementary medicine.

• Official INS definition

  The INS distinguishes three things: traditional medicine, alternative medicine — the kind that replaces conventional treatment and lacks evidence — and complementary medicine, used alongside medical treatment and with scientific backing.

And what the WHO says: the World Health Organization recognises traditional medicine in 170 of its 194 Member States. In 2025 it published its Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, and the 2018 Astana Declaration called for including these knowledges in primary care.

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