Medicinal Spices and Vegetables from Africa: Therapeutic Potential against Metabolic, Inflammatory, Infectious and Systemic Diseases provides a detailed look at medicinal spices and vegetables that have proven safe-and-effective for consumption and the treatment of diseases, including infectious diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. It provides pharmacological evidence, such as the latest information related to efficacy and safety data, in vitro and in vivo studies, clinical trials, and more, to illustrate the use of these spices and vegetables as both palliative and alternative treatments with the goal of furthering research in this area to produce safer and more effective drugs.

The South African Herbal Pharmacopeia: Monographs of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants is a collection of 25 original monographs of medicinal plants that are currently under commercialization or have the potential for commercialization into herbal medicinal products for the global marketplace. Chapters include a general overview covering synonyms, common names, conservation status, botany, geographical distribution, ethnopharmacology, commercialization, pharmacological evaluation, chemical profiling and quality control, including HPTLC fingerprint analysis, UPLC analysis, gas chromatography and mid-infrared spectroscopy analysis. Academics researching pharmacy and analytical chemistry will benefit from the detailed chemical profile on each species presented. Industrial manufacturers of herbal products, herbal medicines, cosmetics, food supplements, and national and international policymakers and regulators will benefit from the overview provided at the beginning of each chapter.

Novel drug delivery systems cover the approaches, formulation, technologies, and modes for transporting any pharmaceutical compound throughout the body to safely get the desired effect. A growing area of research is the use of herbal formulations for disease therapy. In combining these two areas of research, that of novel drug delivery systems and that of herbal formulations, the usefulness of herbs is not only proved but its future applications and effectiveness are studied. The move towards herbal-based novel drug delivery systems can benefit society in a multitude of advantageous ways. Enhancing the Therapeutic Efficacy of Herbal Formulations discusses and explores the ways of preparing herbal formulations loaded in novel drug delivery systems and the resultant improvement in efficacy of the effected drugs/herbs already available on the market. The chapters will highlight traditional and herbal formulations, the effects of novel drug delivery systems on herbal formulations, and the safe and effective preparation and effects of herbal formulations as a therapeutic intervention. This book is ideal for pharmacists, doctors, and researchers specializing in herbal therapeutics, along with practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in how herbal-based novel drug delivery systems can benefit society.

The eighth volume of Evidence-based Clinical Chinese Medicine aims to provide a multi-faceted 'whole evidence' analysis of the management of Alzheimer's disease in Chinese and integrative medicine.Beginning with overviews of how Alzheimer's disease is conceptualised and managed in both conventional medicine and contemporary Chinese medicine, the authors then provide detailed analyses of how dementia and memory disorders were treated with herbal medicine and acupuncture in past eras.In the subsequent chapters, the authors comprehensively review the current state of the clinical trial evidence for Chinese herbal medicines, acupuncture and other Chinese medicine therapies in the management of Alzheimer's disease, as well as analyse and evaluate the results of these studies from an evidence-based medicine perspective. The outcomes of these analyses are summarised and discussed in terms of their implications for the clinical practice of Chinese medicine and for future research.This book can inform clinicians and students in the fields of integrative and Chinese medicine of the current state of the evidence for a range of Chinese medicine therapies in Alzheimer's disease, including the use of particular herbal formulas and acupuncture treatments in order to assist clinicians in making evidence-based decisions in patient care.

The 27th volume of the Evidence-based Clinical Chinese Medicine series examines the management of people who are overweight and obese with Chinese medicine using a 'whole evidence' approach. Overweight and obesity are recognised as leading health concerns worldwide. They have significant impacts on quality of life and mortality and are associated with many complications and chronic illnesses, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and some cancers. Conventional medicine understanding of weight gain, including common causes, diagnosis and treatment are included, along with the Chinese medicine conceptualisation of overweight and obesity.Evidence from clinical studies is reviewed using internationally accepted scientific methods. Systematic reviews describe the treatments used in clinical studies, and analyse the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicines, acupuncture and related therapies, other Chinese medicine therapies, and combinations of Chinese medicine therapies. Experimental studies that describe the potential mechanisms of action of key herbs are summarised. The final chapter synthesises the current evidence and offers suggestions for contemporary clinical practice and future research.This book is a handy desktop reference for both clinicians and students of Chinese and integrative medicine. It provides a comprehensive synthesis of both traditional and contemporary knowledge that can inform clinical decision-making.

Phytochemical Profiling of Commercially Important South African Plants comprises a carefully selected group of plant species that are of interest to researchers and industry partners who would like to investigate the commercialization of plant species. The book presents 25 botanicals selected based on commercial relevance. For each of the species, the following topics are covered: botanical description and distribution, phytochemistry (including chemical structures), HPTLC fingerprint analysis, UPLC analysis, and GC analysis (the latter only in the case of essential oil-bearing species). Using standard methodology, high-level chromatographic fingerprints have been developed for better understanding. Different methods are succinctly summarized allowing for the rapid identification of botanical raw materials and formulated consumer products. This book will be extremely valuable to researchers in the field who wish to rapidly identify the constituents and for those who want to prepare formulations of plant material for commercial applications. This work will also be a valuable resource in the field of pharmacognosy.

While biotechnological advances, genomics and high throughput screenings or combinatorial and asymmetric syntheses are opening new opportunities in drug discovery, the industry is facing serious innovation deficit. The total number of new molecules registered per year has dropped in contrast to expected increase. Post marketing failures of blockbuster drugs have become major concerns of industries. On the other side, globally there is a major shift to sue of traditional medicine involving complementary and alternative therapies. Ethnopharmacology and traditional medicines have contributed in past significantly in the process of natural product drug discovery. There are two clear tracks where ethnopharmacology has potential to contribute in future drug research. First, as a discovery engine to provide new targets, leads, and second, use of quality assured and standardized traditional medicines. In this scenario, it is important to understand the mechanisms of drug discovery and pharmaceutical development with a focus on herbal drugs and neutraceutical. This book provides historical perspective, future prospects and significance of ethnopharmacology in drug research. It also provides important steps in botanical drug discovery and development including bioprospecting, quality control, standardization, pharmaceutics, stability, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability with examples from ethnopharmacology and herbal medicine. One of the important feature of this book is to give an excellent insight to Good Laboratory and Good Clinical Practices along with very useful summary steps involved in filing IND or NDA of botanical products. The book also gives Regulators' perspective of validating claims and how ethnopharmacological or traditional medicines need different approach.

Herbal Biomolecules in Healthcare Applications presents extensive detailed information on all the vital principles, basics and fundamental aspects of multiple herbal biomolecules in the healthcare industry. This book examines important herbal biomolecules including alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, anthraquinones, steroids, polysaccharides, tannins and polyphenolic compounds, terpenes, fats and waxes, proteins and peptides, and vitamins. These herbal biomacromolecules are responsible for different bioactivities as well as pharmacological potentials. A systematic understanding of the extraction, purification, characterization, applications of these herbal biomolecules and their derivatives in healthcare fields is developed in this comprehensive book. Chapters explore the key topics along with an emphasis on recent research and developments in healthcare fields by leading experts. They include updated literature review of the relevant key topics, good quality illustrations, chemical structures, flow charts, well-organized tables and case studies. Herbal Biomolecules in Healthcare Applications will be useful for researchers working on natural products and biomolecules with bioactivity and nutraceutical properties. Professionals specializing in scientific areas such as biochemistry, pharmacology, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, clinics, or engineering focused on bioactive natural products will find this book useful.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic progressive disease characterised by hyperglycaemia. It affects many people around the world and creates burden for the individual as well as the economy. Chinese medicine can be used to support the management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus symptoms. Chapter 1 of the book summarises the conventional understanding of Type 2 diabetes mellitus, including aetiology, diagnosis and current available treatments.This book uses the 'whole evidence' approach to give an overview of the available evidence for Chinese medicine treatment for Type 2 diabetes mellitus, from classical literature to clinical evidence. Evidence from clinical studies are evaluated using high-quality and rigorous scientific methodology. Clinical trial literature of Chinese medicine treatments for Type 2 diabetes mellitus are described, with treatment modalities including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture and other Chinese medicine therapies. The findings are analysed and potential implications for clinical practice and research are explored. Experimental studies that describe the potential mechanisms of action of key herbs are summarised. Current evidence of Chinese medicine for Type 2 diabetes mellitus is synthesised in the final chapter, and suggestions for contemporary clinical practice and future research are also offered.Targeted at clinicians and students of Chinese and integrative medicine, this book is a convenient reference that provides comprehensive synthesis of both classical and contemporary knowledge, which can support and be incorporated into their clinical practice.