Traditional herbal remedies have increased in popularity in Europe and
the United States in recent years but have always been important to p
eople living in rural Mexico and to their Mexican American/Chicano des
cendants in the United States. Mexican American patients will often be
ingesting herbal teas at the same time that they are being treated fo
r their ailments with antibiotics or antiinflammatory agents. The plan
t family Asteraceae (Compositae) has contributed the largest number of
plants to this pharmacopoeia; the reasons for the importance of this
family include its large number of species in Mexico and its wide arra
y of natural products that are useful in the treatment of the maladies
that have afflicted the inhabitants of rural Mexico. These natural pr
oducts include sesquiterpene lactones, polyacetylenes, alkaloids, mono
terpenes, and various phenolics such as flavonoids. In this review, we
emphasize the sesquiterpene lactones, a large group of compounds with
antiinflammatory properties and the ability to relax smooth muscles a
nd thereby relieve gastrointestinal distress. These compounds also rea
dily form adducts with glutathione or free thiols and can thereby affe
ct the metabolism, activity, and toxicology of a wide array of pharmac
ological agents.