Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora), a traditional remedy with the history of treating several diseases

Introduction: The purpose of this literature review is to gain knowledge of the long history, wide variety and extensive applications of camphor, both in traditional and modern medicine. Camphor (Cinnamomum camphora) is obtained from the wood of camphor tree. It has been used for centuries, throughout the world as a remedy for treating variety of symptoms such as inflammation, infection, congestion, pain, irritation, etc. The studies have shown that some of the components of Cinnamomum camphora have suppressive and antimutagenic effect in number of human cancer cells without harming the healthy cells. In this paper our focus is on the use of camphor as a remedy for daily minor problems as well as reporting some information about the new applications of this traditional medicine to treat or prevent some serious life­threatening diseases sucha as cancer and diabetes. We hope to get the attention of researchers for conducting more studies on the effects of camphor on patients with memory and brain disorders as well.