Times Agricultural Journal

Garlic In recent years, consumers have begun to look at herbal products and traditional herbal medicines to treat several medical disorders and maintain health. This move, away from accepted medical practices into those that are less well documented, is not confined to herbal remedies, but is part of a larger interest in a variety of compounds which may confer health benefits when consumed and which are present in plants of many kinds, including common fruits, vegetables, grains and spices.

What is known of the beneficial effects of accepted nutrients is being supplemented with information on other compounds present in plant products. There is likely to be an explosion of knowledge about the constituents of plants in the next few decades. The consumer market for functional foods and neutraceuticals is expected to grow substantially worldwide by 2005.

At the retail level, the global market for natural health care and functional food products is currently estimated at $ 62 billion. The market is growing at 10 per cent every year, and is projected to touch $ 160 billion by 2010. The United States market is more than $ 28 billion, and grew at 11 per cent for two years in a row. Of the total global botanical business, extracts contribute $ 6.2 billion. Of this, India accounts for $ 100 million, China for $ 500 million and Thailand $ 250 million.

The market is upbeat about the potential of neutraceuticals. The industry must provide products that address most, if not all, of the healthcare needs of the market. Traditionally, medicinal plants were always collected. It has now become necessary to cultivate them for commercial purposes. For this, it must retrieve information from the original texts, assess the availability of flora and its sources, protect threatened plant resources and develop systems for their cultivation, standardise the methods for processing of raw material, improve the research facilities, develop efficient testing procedures, and develop a system of drug delivery and formulations.

A “functional food” is similar in appearance to a conventional food that is consumed as a part of the usual diet, but has certain physiological benefits and/or reduces the risk of chronic disease beyond basic nutritional functions. For example, low saturated fat margarine, soy-based products (meat and dairy replacements), flax bread, breakfast cereals containing granola oat and soy protein clusters, milk containing higher levels of calcium, and yoghurt with acidophilis and bifidum cultures.

A “neutraceutical” is a product isolated or purified from foods and generally sold in medicinal form not usually associated with food. A neutraceutical has physiological benefits and provides protection against chronic diseases. For example, vitamin pills and concentrated forms of specific herbs and other plants.