History

The young leaves of the plant have been used as a tonic to treat digestive conditions such as dysentery and diarrhea in the indigenous medical systems of Brazil and Mexico. Mexican medicinal data document the treatment of acute diarrhea, flatulence, and gastric pain by using a guava leaf water decoction for oral administration 3 times daily. A decoction of young leaves and shoots has been prescribed as a febrifuge and a spasmolytic. In Bolivia and Egypt, guava leaves have been used to treat cough and pulmonary diseases; they have also been used to treat cough in India and as an antiinflammatory and hemostatic agent in China.Guava bark has been used medically as an astringent and to treat diarrhea in children, while the flowers have been used to treat bronchitis and eye sores and to cool the body. The fruit has been used as a tonic and laxative and for treatment of bleeding gums. The plant has been used in Africa and Asia to prevent and treat scurvy and to treat hypertension in western Africa. Ethnomedicinal reports document use of the plant in treating malaria. Scientific investigations of the medicinal properties of guava leaf products date back to the 1940s.