Chemistry and Biological Activities of Selected Popular Chinese Herbs in the US Market-1 - 農業知識入口網

I. Introduction

Herbs have been used as medicines and functional foods in the Asian world for
thousands of years. Before western medicines were introduced into Asia, herbs had
been the main weapon in the treatment of diseases and even today remain a main source of drugs in the primary health-care. Currently over half of the Chinese population
use traditional herbal prescription, particularly when western medicines do not
appear to be as effective as in the case of the treatment of chronic ailments such as
age-related diseases. The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in China is undergoing
a new renaissance as the current Chinese government has recognized that the TCM is a
treasure for the nation and can provide both improved health care for its own citizens
as well as serving as an excellent source of phytomedicines for the international export
market when it is combined with modern science. As a national strategy, the Chinese
government is placing much emphasis toward modernizing TCM. The push toward
modernization in this field has led to an increase in the use of modern pharmacological
experiments, standardization of the active components, identification and use of
marker compounds in herbal prescription, establishing fingerprinting profiles (chemically
and genetically) for single and blended herbs, and a wide range of other quality
related issues that now face the international acceptance and use of TCM. The long
history of TCM, and its associated assumption of safety, if not efficacy, has attracted
much interest for the European and North American marketplace to examine and use of
Chinese herbs for disease prevention and treatment. Consequently, due to perceived
consumer demand for these products, many western companies have been importing,
promoting and distributing a wide range of Chinese herbs in the western market and
this business appears to be quite fruitful. Popular Chinese herbs including ginseng
(Panex ginseng C. A. May), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), Dong quai (Angelica sinensis
(Oliv.) Diels) and Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosius) are among the top 20
selling herbs in the US market.

Herbal products are marketed in the United States as dietary supplements and not
as medicinal plants or medicines. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines
dietary supplements as: A dietary supplement is a product taken by mouth that
contains a "dietary ingredient" intended to supplement the diet. The dietary supplements are regulated by Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). The
passage of DSHEA has opened up opportunity for a plethora of new herbs onto the US
marketplace, and while providing consumers a wider range of options. In this paper,
we present general information on a number of popular Chinese herbs in the US
market, discuss their current applications, chemistry and pharmacology. We focus our
comments on four popular Asian herbs: Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, Rhodiola rosea,
Pueraria lobata and Panex ginseng C. A. May. In addition, a popular dietary supplement,
resveratrol will be discussed. Commercially, resveratrol is mainly derived
from a common TCM, Polygonum cuspidatum.