The cultural dissemination of garrafadas in Brazil: a parallel between popular medicine and sanitary legislation

ABSTRACT Garrafadas, in general, are combinations of medicinal plants conveyed in alcoholic beverages, used for a variety of purposes in popular medicine. The present study presented an overview of the garrafadas, relating them to sanitary legislation in Brazil. For this, an exploratory descriptive research was carried out on garrafadas advertised on the internet, as well as notifications of technical complaints and adverse events with Anvisa (National Agency of Sanitary Inspection). The research has shown that garrafadas are widely spread on the internet. It was concluded that garrafadas are commercialized throughout the Country, without any barriers, being orphaned by specific sanitary legislation, but legitimized by popular culture.