Regulatory mechanism for approval of plant drugs has not been in place in several countries until quite recently. In a WHO question-answer survey of 141 member states, it was found that while 92 countries (65%) have laws and regulations on herbal medicines 48 countries (34%) do not. Information provided by 77 of the member states…
A significant increase in the use of herbal medicines in the past decade has also seen a resurgence of interest in herbal medicines in developed countries due to a preference 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…
WHO has recognized the contribution and value of herbal medicines used by a large segment of the world’s population. Extensive usage of medicinal plants worldwide has raised concerns of safety, efficacy and quality control of herbal medicines and traditional procedure-based therapies. To enable legislation concerning procedures for registration of herbal medicines, governments need to draft…
Use of plants for healing dates back to antiquity in the Indian subcontinent and traditional medical knowledge is very closely knit into the very fabric of Indian culture. In many parts of the world, the practice continues today because of its biomedical benefits and place in cultural beliefs. Increasing global disease burden, disillusionment with synthetic…
Plants have been used for disease treatment and health care since ancient times. Despite a setback in the middle 19th century, medicinal plants still form the basis of traditional or indigenous health systems. Herbs whether being used by a Siddha practitioner in South India, to isolate a new alkaloid in a research lab in Switzerland,…
Senna is one of the most traded raw materials in the supplement market. India is the main producer of senna in the world and exports senna leaves and pods worth more then Rs 6 million annually. It is grown on 8,000–10,000 hectares and three-fourths of senna produced in India is exported. Prior to World War…
Man has been troubled by constipation for more than 7,000 years ever since the switchover from feeding on fruits, roots, vegetables and grains to a wide variety of meat products happened. Constipation is of even greater concern world over today due to the shedding of traditional diets what with the convenience granted by fast foods…
The active constituents in both senna leaf and pod are dianthrone glycosides, principally sennoside A and B. They are di-O-glucosides of rhein dianthrone (Sennidin A and B) and liberate upon hydrolysis two molecules of glucose and the aglycones sennidin A and B. Minor constituents include sennosides C and D, which are glycosides of heterodianthrones involving…
Senna plants are low-branching erect shrubs. Leaflets and pods are collected from cultivated plants of C. angustifolia and from both wild and cultivated plants of C. acutifolia. The branches are collected when the fruits are fully formed (but still unripe) and they are rapidly dried in the sun. Leaves are cleaned, sieved to remove leaf fragments and compressed…
Other purgative drugs of erstwhile importance such as aloes, cascara and rhubarb are no longer prescribed as purgatives because of their drastic mode of action and the severe griping that follows. Gums such as acacia, tragacanth, guar gum and sterculia as also other polysaccharide drugs are used as laxatives to a limited extent due their…