STANDARDIZATION OF HERBAL MEDICINES/PRODUCTS:

PREAMBLE:
Herbal medicine is the most primitive traditional approach to the treatment of diseases and ailments. It is called herbal medicine because it involves the use of plants or plant parts. There is no doubt that herbal medicines provided the first basis for therapeutics before the development or advent of orthodox medicine. Despite the fact that, over the years, chemists have synthesized a large number of chemical substances, many of which have proved useful in modern therapeutics, plants still remain potential sources of useful products. Although the medicine prescribed may contain only one single active item, it is often a mixture of many components. Thousands of herbal medicines are used by peoples from every culture and various indigenous medicines are gradually being introduced into modern therapeutics. In developing countries about 80% of the people, especially the rural population, rely on traditional medical remedies for their health care needs. In developed countries, there has been a resurgence of interest in herbal medicines due, to a large extent, on the preference of many consumers for products of natural origin. In addition, manufactured herbal medicines from their countries of origin often follow in the wake of migrants from countries where traditional medicines play an important role. It is important however, to distinguish between herbal medicine supplied by a “qualified” medical practitioner as a result of a consultation and those herbal remedies (in the form of “teas”) freely available to the public for self-medication. DEFINITION:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), herbal medicines should be regarded as “finished, labelled medicinal products that contain as active ingredients aerial or underground parts of plants or other plant materials or combinations thereof, whether in the crude state or as plant preparations. Plant material includes juices, gums, fatty oils, essential oils and any other substances of this nature. Herbal medicines may contain excipients in addition to the active ingredients. In some countries, herbal medicines may also contain, by tradition, natural organic or inorganic active ingredients which are not of plant origin.Medicines containing plant materials combined with chemically defined active substances including chemically defined isolated constituents of plants are not considered to be herbal medicines”. Problems associated with herbal medicines:

One of the major criticisms levelled against herbal medicines is that they are neither standardized nor are they dispensed to patients in specified doses or in strictly regulated quantities. However it is becoming increasingly clear that the standardization of herbal medicine entails much more than just specifying the amount of the medicine to be taken by the patient. It is also important that every stage of the production process should be standardized.Prior to the current availability of mass- marketed herbal medicines and dietary supplements, herbalists and patients prepared their own herbal medicines. Often the herbal ingredients were grown and obtained locally and compounded by hand into a particular formula or concocted into a simple infusion or decoction. Each product was therefore a unique formulation (because different individuals of the same plant species, grow...

1 10 1830 2 3 4 40 5 8 80 absenc absolut accept accord acid action activ acut addit adequ adjust administr adulter advent advertis advis aerial affect age agenc ailment alkaloid alkaloid-typ almond alreadi also although amara among amount amygdalinus analys and/or anim anthocyanin anthranol anthraquinon antimicrobi appear appli approach appropri aris art ash assay assess assign assist associ assum assur authent avail b base basi basic batch batch-batch becom best big bioactiv biolog biological/pharmacological biosynthet bitter botan brand breed broad brought busi call cannot capsul care carri case certain charact character characterist characters.it check chemic chemist chemotaxonom chromatograph chronic clear clinician clinician-pati collect colour colourless/white combin come compar compet complex compli compon composit compound comprehens concentr conclus concoct condit consequ consid consider consign consist consistent constitu constituents/composition consult consum consumpt contain contamin content contribut control could count countri critic crude cultur current cyanogenetic/cyanophoric d d.myoporoides danger data date day declar decoct defin definit demonstr denot depend deriv descript design despit detail detect determin develop dietari differ difficult dihydroxi dihydroxy-anthranol discret diseas dispens distinct distinguish distribut diurnal done dose doubt dri drug dryopteri duboisia due dulci earli easier easili effect efficaci effort eg either elimin elucid enough ensur entail entiti environment equal error especi essenti establish etc ethic ethnobotan evalu even everi evid exact examin except excess excipi exclus exercis exhibit exist expect extens extent extern extract fact factor fail famili far fatti feasibl field final find fingerprint finish first flower fold follow food foreign form formal formul formula fortun found four fraction fraudul free freedom freeli frequent full function galen general generat genet genotyp genus geograph give given glycosid gmp go goal good govern gradual great group grown guidelin gum hand harvest health healthcar help herb herbal herbalist hierarchi high horticultur hous howev human hundr hybrid hydrocyan hydrolysi hyoscin hyoscyamin ident identif identifi impli import improv impur in-hous includ included.consumers inconsist increas index indigen individu industri ineffect inform infus ingredi inorgan insolubl instanc intend intens interaction.the interest intern introduc investig involv isol item juic keep kept label laboratori lack laid larg later lead learn led leichhardti level life limit load local lot low macer macroscop made major make mani manufactur marker market mass materi matter may mean medic medicin medicines/products meet mere metal method microbi microbiolog microorgan microscop migrant mind minim misrepresent mixtur model modern moistur monograph moreov morpholog much multi multi-compon must name natur need neither nicotin non non-tox nonetheless nor-hyoscyamin nor-nicotin number numer observ obtain occupi occur offici often oil on-go one onsequ ontogeni open oper organ organolept origin origin.medicines orthodox other otherwis over-consumpt overal packag part particular patient peopl per percentag percol pesticid pharmaceut pharmacognost pharmacolog phenotyp phloroglucinol physic pigment pill place plant play polic pollut polymorph poor popul posit possibl post potenti practic practition preambl precursor prefer preliminari prepar preparation.standards prescrib presenc preserv primit princip principl problem procedur proceed process produc product profession profil properti proport propos prospect protocol protocol.the prove provid prunus prussic public purgat puriti purpos put qualifi qualit qualiti quantif quantit quantiti race races/chemical races/physiological ratio reason recogn recommend refer regard regul relat releas reli reliabl remain remedi replic report repres requir respect respons result resurg reveal rhein/chrysophanol rise risk role rosacea rural sarmentogenin sarmentosus sarmutogenin sarverogenin scienc scientif season select self self-med separ serv set shelf shelf-lif show side side-effect signific similar simpl simpli sinc singl situat small soil solubl sophist sound sourc speci specif specifi specimen spectrophotometr spinulosa stabil stage standard standardized.prior state still stipul storag store strict strophanthus structur studi sub sub-famili sub-standard subject substanc substanti substitut suitabl supplement suppli sweet synergist synthes system tablet tailor taken taxa taxonom taxonomist tea techniqu technolog test therapeut thereaft therefor thereof thousand time tool total toxic toxicolog tradit treatment tri tropan truli two type ultim unaccept uncontrol undergon underground uniform uniqu unit unknown unless unlik unreli unwholesom use usual valu var vari variabl variat varieti various vigor visual volum voucher wake water way weight well whenev wherev whether whole whose within work world worldwid year yield