The "Aguardente Alemã" (AA), produced from extracts of the roots of Operculina macrocarpa and Convolvulus scammonea, also known as "composed jalapa", is indicated as laxative, but it is used, popularly, for several diseases. Our objective was to delineate the user profile of this herbal medicine, the way it is managed and the main use indications referred by users through a questionnaire applied to the population (n = 125) at the moment of the AA dispensing in community pharmacies of Fortaleza, Ceará. The users were mainly women, aged between 41 and 60 years. The administration of AA was generally done with a tea spoon (5 mL; 46.4%), once per day (87%), without an established time for taking; managing it with tea and water, principally. It was indicated by the population for using in diseases as circulatory problems (63%) and migraine (13.1%). The laxative activity, labeled in the formulation of the product, was poorly related. Thus, our results provide important information for the certification process of AA to the regulatory agencies and emphasize the necessity of more studies of post-marketing surveillance for the guarantee of the rational use of this product to the user.
Operculina macrocarpa; Convolvulus scammonea; Convolvulaceae; aguardente Alemã; post-marketing surveillance; herbal medicines
