Introduction:

Medicinal plants have been traditionally used to cure or alleviate infectious and non-infectious diseases. They are widely accepted due to their low cost and low toxicity indexes. These plants are frequently used in cases involving skin irritation, superficial wounds, insect bites, and snake bites.

Objective:

To compile available evidence on the main therapeutic uses and phytochemical components of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius (popularly known as chaya), a plant that grows in tropical regions of Mexico and Central America.

Materials and methods:

A literature review of studies on C. aconitifolius published until 2017 was conducted in the BIREME, PubMed/Medline, Elsevier and SciELO databases. Descriptors "Cnidoscolus" and "aconitifolius" were used for the literature search, and no language restrictions were applied.

Results:

82 articles were retrieved after completing the initial search. Once the studies were filtered by title (descriptors in the title) and duplicates were removed, 18 articles were reviewed. Based on the information found, it was possible to confirm that this plant has multiple health benefits.

Conclusions:

The traditional therapeutic use of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius is backed by scientific evidence. Therefore, further research aimed at identifying new phytochemical properties of this plant should be conducted to establish alternative therapies for treating different conditions.

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