[Glinus.com] MEDICINAL PLANTS AND TRADTIONAL MEDICINE NEWS

 

mEDICINAL pLANTS AND tRADTIONAL mEDICINE NEWS

AWARENESS OF EXPORT POTENTIAL OF HERBS IS LOW IN INDIA: NPMB

Despite conducive environment, growing demand and a rich heritage, India's share in the global herbal market remains much below potential

 

According to a government report, the global herbal market is expected to grow steadily in the coming years with growing demand for herbal products worldwide. The Ministry of Science and Technology says in its report that the global herbal market is expected to be grow to around $5 trillion by 2050, but India's current share is estimated at below 2%.

The report adds that herbal remedies are important in countries like China and would become increasingly important in developing countries like India in the coming years. Standardisation is a bottleneck that has gained some attention among companies producing herbal products across the world. However, efforts are required to develop the cultivation of such plants in India.

 

https://www.thedollarbusiness.com/awareness-of-export-potential-of-herbs-is-low-in-india-npmb/

 

 

Chinese licorice fights diabetes and obesity

 

Licorice can be used to bring down diabetes and fat. A simple herb known for 4,000 years as a part of the 'Glycyrrhiza plants', or licorice, has gone under the name of 'natural sweeteners' or 'herbal medicines'. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology published a new study by researchers, who find that licorice could also reduce or stop metabolic disorders, according tonaturalnews.com.

 

http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/4770/20141224/http-www-naturalnews-com-048067-chinese-licorice-diabetes-traditional-medicine-html-ixzz3mderf7rq.htm

 

Date palm, bitter kola, zobo top local herbal 'cures' for Yuletide blues

 

Today is Christmas. The Yuletide is here again. The season is synonymous with over indulgence in alcohol, food and sex. Hangover, weight gain and sexually transmitted infections such as Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) become the order of the day. But scientists have validated bitter kola, date palm, zobo, grapefruit, among others as 'cures' for hangover and to prevent weight gain. They advise against unprotected sex and promiscuity, and recommend being faithful to one partner and the use of condom. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.

 

 

http://ngrguardiannews.com/sunday-magazine/living-wellbeing/191524-date-palm-bitter-kola-zobo-top-local-herbal-cures-for-yuletide-blues

 

Professor spreads words on her benefits from medicinal plants

 

When Anne Bower's doctor suggested she take a statin drug to lower her cholesterol, she had other ideas. Call it a lifestyle redo.

Beginning in July 2013, working with doctors and later a nutritionist, Bower began eating lots of beans, greens, and grains; a little fish; and almost no meat. She cut way down on sugar and saturated fat and began doing yoga. She hiked in the Wissahickon and took long walks with the dog.

"But the biggest change I made was to increase the number of medicinal plants I use," said Bower, associate biology professor at Philadelphia University in East Falls, who shared her knowledge of those plants with students this semester.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20141226_Professor_spreads_words_on_her_benefits_from_medicinal_plants.html#C5uIvjDgkBtupoyf.99

 

 

A new lease of life for medicinal plants

The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) has launched a project 'resource conservation, augmentation, sustainable harvesting and value addition of medicinal plants resources' to conserve the critically endangered medicinal plants in the Western Ghats region.

The project implemented with financial assistance of the National Medicinal Plant Board also aims at ensuring sustainable income to the tribal people who earn their livelihood collecting minor forest produces.

The project will be executed in association with the biodiversity management committees functioning at the grama panchayat level and the Forest Department.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/a-new-lease-of-life-for-medicinal-plants/article6703612.ece

 

Grandma's Medicines Grow On Trees

 

For years, grandmothers had to fight to prove the efficacy of herbs and medicinal plants for a wide range of illnesses; but these plants have since become the main ingredients in a variety of herbal teas now on supermarket shelves across the island.

"Jamaicans traditionally have used herbs for hundreds of years, but it has been done very informally. In the country, you would pick it from your yard or the area around your yard. It was never cultivated as a crop for sale other than a few items such as ginger, for example, which used to be a very big crop in Jamaica and people consumed it as a hot beverage or a cold beverage," explained chief executive officer of Jamaican Teas Limited, John Mahfood.

Noting the demand for some of these herbs over the years, Mahfood's company decided to make them more accessible to those whose busy schedule would not allow them to go to the country and reap these plants. Currently, his company depends on farmers to bring the plants to them to be processed and packaged for consumption.

 

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20141130/lead/lead6.html

 

Market Research Reports, Inc. has announced the addition of "Antibiotics, Medicinal Plants, Superbugs And The Coming Antimicrobial Resistant Drugs Pandemic: global Markets, Competitors And Opportunities-2014-2019 Analysis And Forecasts" research report to their offering.

Lewes, DE -- (ReleaseWire) -- 11/28/2014 -- An Antibiotic is an agent that either kills or inhibits the growth of a microorganism. The world is now facing a grave situation: it is losing the battle against infectious diseases; bacteria are fighting back and are becoming resistant to modern medicine; in short, pharmaceutical drugs don't work. If resistance is allowed to increase, in a few decades people may start dying from the most commonplace of ailments that today can be treated easily. In fact, the ability of organisms to develop resistance to the effects of antimicrobial therapies developed to kill them is potentially the greatest challenge to healthcare in the 21st century.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2365644#ixzz3N2jtZRvT

 

Discovery of the therapeutic value of herbal product

I have achieved a great medical breakthrough by discovering a herbal drug extracted from a plant for treating kidney failure with 100% success guarantee whereby I have opened a new avenue for medical science and I have spent nearly 20 years of research in this particular field and the herbal drug has been developed under the system of local health tradition based on a locally available endemic plant known as Inpensing in Liangmai dialect which can be identified in English, Botanical, Scientific and local name with full photograph of the plant to ensure real identification. With this traditional medicine, I have treated a good number of patients who have been suffering from renal ailments/kidney failure.

I have recorded 100% success rate which can be physically verified. There is a wide variety of species of this kind of plant and proper identification is prerequisite. There are five different varieties of this particular plant species out of which one smallest one has the potential of medicinal value and therefore careful identification is necessary.

http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/page/items/46703/discovery-of-the-therapeutic-value-of-herbal-product

 

 

Herbal garden provides remedy to ailing people

Had it been left unnoticed, the space under the overhead water tank at Meenakshipuram here would have been barren or misused by locals. But, the initiative of Deputy Mayor P. Jeganathan alias Ganesan to convert it into a herbal garden has not only added beauty to the area, but also has come in handy for the people during monsoon season.

A number of people visit the herbal garden every day during this rainy season. For, the medicinal plants being maintained by Mr. Ganesan provide much-needed relief for the seasonal ailments. The herbs come not only free of cost but also without any side-effects.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/herbal-garden-provides-remedy-to-ailing-people/article6651254.ece

 

Life-saving medicinal plants under threat from biodiversity erosion

As global efforts to prevent biodiversity depletion focus more on fauna than flora, experts call for guidelines to protect against the threatened loss of life-saving plants.

Uprooted, over-harvested, trampled or brashly ignored by the wider world, plants are the unsung heroes of modern medicine. Since time immemorial, species with healing properties have been called upon and indeed relied upon to treat the sick and injured.

And although our modern day brave new world of medical possibility bears little resemblance to the slower pace of ancient indigenous cures, it has not rendered our reliance on the vegetation that coats our earth, obsolete. On the contrary, medicinal plants continue to play an integral role in the protection of human health. Yet seemingly unmoved by this dynamic, humans largely fail to return that protective favor. "Medicinal plants don't have a voice," Manoj Kumar Sarkar, author of Management Strategies for Endemic and Threatened Medicinal Plants in India told Global Ideas. "All over the world the expenditure for the protection of fauna is far greater than for flora - including medicinal plants."

 

http://www.dw.de/life-saving-medicinal-plants-under-threat-from-biodiversity-erosion/a-18056035

 

Botanist from UK applauds research done by Patanjali Yogpeeth

 

http://www.thehealthsite.com/news/botanist-from-uk-applauds-research-done-by-patanjali-yogpeeth/

 

Israeli-Palestinian study finds regional flowers help combat viruses

Three-year study conducted by Israeli, Palestinian, Spanish and Greek researchers examined various flowers and plants in Israel and found potential for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4602587,00.html

 

Promoting African medicinal plants through multi-stakeholder meeting-HerbFEST

 

IF you are reading this, then you either know or have parents who know what we are all missing in refusing to use our available locally grown (behind the house little garden) plants. For most, when they see or hear of "medicinal plants" they see native doctors or plants made for those who cannot afford the orthodox medicine. I often find this amusing especially coming from learned people who should understand that most medicines did not fall from the skies or are products of chemical analysis but rather are plant based. 

 

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/features/natural-health/187164-promoting-african-medicinal-plants-through-multi-stakeholder-meeting-herbfest

 

 

An organic garden of plenty in Mali's arid soil

 

In a strikingly green corner of Mali, one man is leading an agricultural revolution, using organic farming methods to get the most out of the land -- and pass his techniques on to others in west Africa.

Oumar Diabate has established a reputation for raising chemical-free vegetables, fruit and medicinal plants at his small farm about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the capital Bamako.

In a vast country where two-thirds of the terrain is desert, Diabate, 47, lovingly tends his two hectares (five acres), nudging tomatoes, courgettes, lettuce and beetroot from the ochre soil.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2863167/An-organic-garden-plenty-Malis-arid-soil.html

 

 

__._,_.___

---

Posted by: greencauses@yahoo.com

---

Reply via web post

•

Reply to sender

•

Reply to group

•

Start a New Topic

•

Messages in this topic (1)

http://www.glinus.com/

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
.To join : glinus-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
.To post a message : glinus@yahoogroups.com
.To unsubscribe: glinus-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Visit Your Group

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___

Promoting African medicinal plants through multi-stakeholder meeting-HerbFEST

IF you are reading this, then you either know or have parents who know what we are all missing in refusing to use our available locally grown (behind the house little garden) plants. For most, when they see or hear of “medicinal plants” they see native doctors or plants made for those who cannot afford the orthodox medicine. I often find this amusing especially coming from learned people who should understand that most medicines did not fall from the skies or are products of chemical analysis but rather are plant based. 

     Granted, there is a recent increase in the interest and use of natural products and herbal supplements/teas, but this is often just a faze which is ignited when a multi-level marketing international company storms the market with products, and which naturally losses momentum after a given number of users have tried it out. Another indication of the fact that Nigerians are ready to embrace the herbal trend is the increasing preference for green teas. Now, my question is this: Which country or continent is/has more green than us? Why do we then prefer imported “green” is what I don’t know. I for one, believe that nature has provided each country what they need to sustain their health and wellbeing and it just behooves on us to cash in on this divine benevolence!

      The indigenous flora of Africa has historically supported healthcare delivery, food security, as well as cosmetics and beauty products manufacturing. No matter how hard we try, we cannot be more “oyibo” than the “oyibo” (no offense meant). We need to come to realization that our medicinal plants (oh yes our “common” moringa, bitter kola, ginger, okro, bitter leaf etc) as well as our traditional health practices and formulations have a significant role to play in tackling our present health challenges as well as bridging health inequalities. We should not continue to struggle to have completely-accessible national healthcare delivery systems amidst very rich biodiversity ecosystems. Talk about fetching water with a spoon when there’s a bucket right in front of you!

       So you have heard that in Africa (Nigeria inclusive), more than 80% of the rural population use medicinal herbs or indigenous systems of medicine. You go like “really? Who uses local products and visits traditional practitioners?” Yes “really”! Even you reading this will most likely refer anyone who has bone fracture to a traditional bone-setter or refer a sick relative to India where most infusions and products are medicinal plants based and locally produced!  Attending the upcoming HerbFEST 2014 will not only improve our healthcare but will help us in achieving both our Health and Economic Millenium Development Goals. A comprehensive review of African Medicinal Plants (See, Iwu, M.M. 1993, 2014: Handbook of African Medicinal Plants) listed more than 2,000 plant species that are used in traditional medical practice in various parts of the continent. Notwithstanding this rich array of plant species, Nigeria, like most other African countries, play very insignificant roles in the estimated herbal medicine global trade worth over USD$100b.

       Tropical and subtropical Africa contains between 40- 45.000 species of plant with a potential for development and out of which 5.000 species are used medicinally. It must be emphasized also that the continent already contributes nearly 25 per cent of the world trade in biodiversity. Still there is a paradox: in spite of this huge potential and diversity, the African continent has only contributed 83 of the 1100 blockbuster drugs globally.

      There are a lot of stakeholders involved in the process of firmly implanting our medicinal plants and natural products into our healthcare system, and adopting it as a wealth creation strategy, away from the oil sector. Each of these stakeholders need to be strengthened and their capacity built, as is done during the HerbFEST. The farmers need to know how to plant organically to avoid chemicals which only deteriorate the efficacy of the plants or even contaminate them. They equally need to know how/when to harvest, store, transport etc. In all, Good Agricultural Practices have to be imbibed. 

       The research institutes and Academia need support to carry out extensive research work. They mustn’t wait for foreign grants or outbreaks such as the recent: Ebola Outbreak” to get support/finance to carry out research work! Entrepreneurs and natural products producers need funding and to know how to get the quality right in order to be widely accepted locally and internationally. Government Agencies need to come together to synchronize activities and move it forward to the next phase. 

      Plant-based Clinical research has made particularly rewarding progress in the important fields of antimalarial (example artemisinin), anticancer (example taxoids and camptothecins) and metabolic disorder (includes diabetes etc.) therapies, and these are the leading causes of death in West Africa. Natural products can make substantial contributions to health care delivery and general wellness. Their use in the former has however met with various challenges bothered on acceptability, failed perception, quality control and dosage.  HerbFEST aims to bridge these gaps, tackle such challenges and as well showcase our rich biodiversity and research results.

     As with all “made in Naija” goods, the small population of Nigerians who use natural products and dietary supplements would rather buy the same product but made in other countries. And the doctors? That is more like the proverbial “camel passing through the eye of a needle”. And can they be really blamed? Not exactly! Few plant species that provide medicinal herbs have been scientifically evaluated for their possible medical applications. Even if they recognise the efficacy of herbal remedies, both the general consumer and health care professionals need up to date, authoritative information on the safety and efficacy of medicinal plants. And Assurance of safety, quality and efficacy of medicinal plants and herbal products has now become a key issue in industrialized and developing countries. 

      With a view to help stimulate the natural products and bio-business industrial sub-sector and improve the health sector in Nigeria and the ECOWAS sub-region, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme (BDCP), a non-governmental non-profit organization, in collaboration with the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), also a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, and the International Centre for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (InterCEDD), a private research and development Centre, are organizing a natural products expo, HerbFEST 2014. HerbFEST 2014 which is taking place from the 25-27th of November 2014 at NNMDA premises Lagos, which promises to promote our herbs, health foods and natural products.

• Ngozi James wrote from Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme, Abuja

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/features/natural-health/187164-promoting-african-medicinal-plants-through-multi-stakeholder-meeting-herbfest

Life-saving medicinal plants under threat from biodiversity erosion

As global efforts to prevent biodiversity depletion focus more on fauna than flora, experts call for guidelines to protect against the threatened loss of life-saving plants.

Uprooted, over-harvested, trampled or brashly ignored by the wider world, plants are the unsung heroes of modern medicine. Since time immemorial, species with healing properties have been called upon and indeed relied upon to treat the sick and injured.

And although our modern day brave new world of medical possibility bears little resemblance to the slower pace of ancient indigenous cures, it has not rendered our reliance on the vegetation that coats our earth, obsolete.

On the contrary, medicinal plants continue to play an integral role in the protection of human health. Yet seemingly unmoved by this dynamic, humans largely fail to return that protective favor.

"Medicinal plants don't have a voice," Manoj Kumar Sarkar, author of Management Strategies for Endemic and Threatened Medicinal Plants in India told Global Ideas. "All over the world the expenditure for the protection of fauna is far greater than for flora - including medicinal plants."

Taxus Baccata contains properties which are used in the treatment of different cancers

And that, he says, is a massive oversight. By means of a single example, he cites a species called Taxus Baccata or Taxus Wallichiana that grows in the Himalayas. It contains a property called Taxol, which is used in the treatment of uterine, breast and colon cancer.

"But because of biodiversity destruction, its habitat is being destroyed and that affects plant numbers," he said.

Blind to reality

The fate of Taxus Baccata is shared by thousands of plants on the endangered species list. And with World Health Organization statistics indicating that between 70 and 80 percent of the global population relies on traditional herbal-based medicines to meet their primary health care needs, the situation is precarious.

Danna J Leaman, who chairs the IUCN's Medicinal Plant Specialist Group, told GI that worldwide between 50,000 to 70,000 plants are deemed to have medicinal properties. But of those, only 1,000 are commercially grown.

Leaman says they tend to be species which are more "easily domesticated", and which are "sufficiently economically valuable", with markets stable enough to warrant the requisite investments in land and fertilizers.

In the absense of re-sowing programs, wild harvesting erodes biodiversity

The vast majority of medicinal plants, however, are collected in the wild by private people with few income alternatives. They sell to traders at a cheap rate, which as Sarkar explains, implies a direct threat of over-harvesting.

"In India, the trade is completely controlled by the informal sector," he said, adding that there is no species-specific recovery plan in place to ensure that plants continue to thrive.

The way ahead

Sarkar says the solution is clear, and that it is up to individual governments, particularly those in India and China – where 40 percent of the world's medicinal plants grow - to put serious guidelines and regulations in place.

Essential to the protection process is a structured political approach which ensures the promotion of indigenous knowledge of plants and their medical properties, and investment in teaching and research institutes. Without specific policies in place - be they national or global - many plant species will be lost to general biodiversity erosion and destructive harvesting practices.

FairWild for a sustainable future

Leaman says she has witnessed very little willingness from the commercial sector to engage in any meaningful dialogue on how best to contribute to preventing precious plant resources from being wiped off the face of the planet.

All too often, she says, companies are blind to the implications for their own survival. Against that backdrop, direct communication with the consumer becomes crucial. But that is not without it's own challenges.

Each jar contains dries plants with different medicinal properties

"Consumer attention and commitment is not easily won when there is so much competition for people's time and money," Leaman said. "But we are making some good progress on engaging some industry innovators and leaders in a new standard for sustainable wild collection of plants used in food, medicine and cosmetics.”

The FairWild Standard, as it is called, was developed by the IUCN Medicinal Plant Specialist Group and other conservation, industry and government organizations. It is the first comprehensive standard for sustainable wild collection that ensures a fair deal for everyone involved so far. Leaman says many companies are already participating.

http://www.fairwild.org/

"I can walk to my local supermarket in Ottawa and buy herbal teas with wild collected ingredients that carry the FairWild logo," she said. "It's a start."

http://www.dw.de/life-saving-medicinal-plants-under-threat-from-biodiversity-erosion/a-18056035