Natural Products Sources - Natural Products Chemistry: Sources, Separations, and Structures - page 7

understand the cultural concepts around the perception of plants; and natural prod-
ucts chemistry.
As sources of health products, the majority of the world continues to heavily rely
on herbal remedies for their primary health care. Ancient civilizations of both China
and India have provided a wealth of knowledge on the use of traditional medicines.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used for thousands of years.
The basis and philosophy of TCM centering on the qi is not well understood in
Western practice. Many TCM formulas are mixtures of herbs and plants, used
in combination and prepared as teas. There is also the use of various medicinal
mushrooms. One example is the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum , known also as
Reishi and Ling Zhi, which has been used in TCM for thousands of years as an
herbal tonic (see also Section 5.8).
Ayurvedic medicine is used in India. Ayurveda stresses the use of plant-based
medicines and treatments. Hundreds of plant-based medicines are employed, includ-
ing two commonly used spices: cardamom and cinnamon.
Kampo medicine is used in Japan and much of its origins derive from TCM
formulas. They also highly respect their medicinal mushrooms. An example is the
Agaricus blaze mushroom, a highly popular medicine that is used by close to 500,000
people, particularly by cancer patients. The second most used medicine is derived
from another mushroom, an isolate from the shiitake mushroom ( Lentinula edodes ).
Africa is endowed with many traditional healing plants that can be used for
medicinal purposes. Out of approximately 6400 plant species used in tropical Africa,
more than 4000 are used as medicinal plants. Examples include pygeum ( Prunus
africana ) to increase the ease of urination and reduce inflammation and cholesterol
deposits. The bark is made into tea. In traditional African practice, Momordica bal-
samina is known to lower blood glucose levels.
Native Americans also have a long history of use of traditional medicines. They
use sage, which was believed to heal multiple problems of the digestive system.
Remedies for common colds include American ginseng; herbs for aches and pains
include Pennyroyal and hops; and dogwood and willow bark are remedies for fever.
1.3 SOURCING OF NATURAL PRODUCTS
With respect to the sourcing of natural products from plants, first, attention needs to
be paid to the correct identification of the species. Second, due to variability in the
growing conditions, it is important to keep in mind that the same identified species
found in different geographical locations might yield different metabolites or ratios
of metabolites. Finally, the selection of the plant part is very important: flowers, fruit-
ing bodies, berries, bark, seeds, or stems. Metabolites vary within the whole plant
as fresh or dried material, or from the roots or the aerial parts. Thus, the botanical
extracts are complex mixtures of multiple compounds. For chemical analysis, refer-
ence standards may be difficult to generate or obtain. Also, the stability of chemicals
in the extracts may sometimes be difficult to control. Some advances include: