It has been well recognized that an increasing percentage of the population is using herbal products for both preventive and therapeutic purposes. Often times the use of herbals is associated with attenuating side-effects produced from therapeutic drugs such as chemotherapeutic regimen. The basis of this usage of herbal products is the concept that being a natural product, the herbal must be sa...

Many people have turned away from conventional medicines, with the belief that ‘natural’ substances like herbs are safer than synthetic substances. This belief is augmented by many other unwarranted claims such as herbal products do not contain chemicals while conventional medicines do, thus contributing to the latter’s side effects. The increasing use of herbal medicines has resulted in concer...

Currently, there are no standardized regulatory systems for herbal medicinal products worldwide. Communication and sharing of knowledge between different regulatory systems will lead to mutual understanding and might help identify topics which deserve further discussion in the establishment of common standards. Regulatory information on traditional herbal medicinal products in Japan is updated ...

An increasing number of people in the western world are using traditional Chinese herbal medicines. There are concerns that these Chinese medicines may contain potentially toxic ingredients and contaminants such as heavy metals. Undeclared conventional western drugs such as the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antihistamine drugs, steroids and oral hypoglycaemic agents are frequently added t...

Introduction: Mentha piperita L, a lesser-known and partly proved drug in homoeopathy, is used extensively as herbal medicine.

Herbal medicines are used widely in the United States, and according to a recent survey, the majority of people who use herbal medicines do not inform their physicians about their use. Herbal medicines can cause abnormal test results and confusion in proper diagnosis. Herbal medicines can alter test results by direct interference with certain immunoassays. Drugherb interactions can result in un...

Cytochrome P450 (CYP P450) enzymes are a superfamily of mono-oxygenases that are found in all kingdoms of life. The CYP P450 enzymes constitute a large superfamily of haem-thiolate proteins involved in the metabolism of a wide variety of both exogenous and endogenous compounds. The CYP activities have been shown to be involved in numerous interactions especially between drugs and herbal constit...

In the European Union, traditional herbal medicines that are regarded as “acceptably safe, albeit not having a recognized level of efficacy” fit into a special category of drugs (“traditional herbal medicine products”) for which requirements of non-clinical and clinical studies are less rigorous. A regulation proposal published by the Brazilian National Health Surveillance (Anvisa) defines a si...

The bioavailability of some orally administered botanical extracts is erratic and poor due to limited gastro-intestinal absorption. Bioavailability can be improved by using new delivery systems which can enhance the rate and the extent of solubilization into aqueous intestinal fluids and the capacity to cross biomembranes. Phospholipids based drug delivery system have been found promising for b...