Wild vegetables have been the mainstay of human diets since times immemorial. There is an increasing consensus that wild foods could significantly contribute to alleviate hunger and cure diseases. Wild vegetables are receiving renewed attention as their potential human health benefits are being recognized. These are the cheapest and most readily available source of food that can contribute significantly to human nutrition and health as these are regarded as easily obtainable and palatable. Earlier people relied solely on wild plants as these were most abundant or readily available. With the advancement in agriculture, wild vegetables are underutilized, the present review documents therapeutic promise of 20 wild vegetables, which have remained an important part of the diet of Kashmiri people in India and are sources of potential therapeutic compounds, useful both for product development and awareness raising. These wild vegetables are generally good source of anti-oxidants, anti-carcinogenic, anti–microbial, hepato-protective, anti-diabetic, immuno-enhancing etc. Their promotion and integration into the human diets could assist in their protracted use and consequent health benefits. If these plant species continue to be neglected and underappreciated, knowledge about them may soon be lost in time and never be recovered. It is believed that there will be more dieticians rather than physicians in coming years as many diseases can be prevented and better health can be maintained by taking the right kind of food and nutrition which contains certain plants with specific functional attributes.
Fig.: Plants with therapeutic properties in terms of number
