Christmas drinks

Christmas time brings with it the anticipa-

tion of home-made palate-arousing deli-

cacies and recipes, such as red sorrel

drink (from Hibiscus sabdariffa) and gin-

ger “beer”. For people living in this and

neighbouring countries, “ginger beer” is

made from rhizomes of ginger (Zingiber

officinale), which delivers a “burning”

pungent sensation on the tongue, as a

pleasant contrast to the sweetness of

“Christmas cake”. Some recipes allow

for the mixing of ginger beer with sorrel

drinks in splendid red-tinted concoctions

for Christmas time.

There are several recipes for ginger beer,

but the most important part making this

beverage is the selection of rhizomes

which are fresh and firm, and carrying a

strong spicy aroma. This characteristic

aroma of the plant is due to its volatile or

essential oil constituents.

The ginger plant is native to Southeast

Asia, and it has been used in traditional

Chinese and in Ayurvedic medicine for

hundreds of years. The herb was first

brought to the Caribbean region in the

16th century, aboard ships bringing inden-

tured labourers to the region – so it is

said. Today it is a cultivated species and it

can be processed into value-added prod-

ucts which are represented among the

nutraceuticals of international trade.

Rhizomes of ginger and its extracts have

been used effectively to treat nausea and

vomiting associated with motion sick-

ness; and its therapeutic constituents are

known to be mixtures of non-volatile

compounds called gingerols and shogaols,

which are also the pungent constituents of

the plant.

According to the 2006

book: “The Desktop Guide

to Complementary and Al-

ternative Medicine: An evi-

dence-based approach”, ed-

ited by Edzard Ernst, Max

Pittler and Barbara Wider,

the medicinal attributes of

ginger products have been

described inside official

European monographs for

ginger (Zingiberis rhizome)

since 1997, and they have

been approved by the US

Pharmacopoeia for inclu-

sion in the National Formulary.

Heeba and Abd-Elghany reported their

findings on pages 1076-1081 in Phy-

tomedicine, 2010, volume 17, that crude

extracts of ginger rhizomes are antioxi-

dant and anti-inflammatory in animal

models. But the evidence that the extracts

work in this way for humans is still to be

demonstrated in clinical trials published

in the scientific literature.

Inside this issue:

December, 2010 Volume 2, Issue:5

C A R I B B E A N H E R B A L M E D I C I N E R E S E A R C H I N S T I T U T E

CaHMRI News

CHRISTMAS DRINKS 1

HOW TO FIND OU ABOUT HERBAL TREATMENTS

2

HERBAL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES IN AMERICA

3

Zingiber officinale - ginger

the specific, descriptive epithet designat-

ing the species. Thus Allium sativum is

the scientific binomial of Garlic, Allium

being the genus, sativum being the spe-

cies. Thus the scientific name for Shado

beni became Eryngium foetidum, and was

confirmed in accordance with the 1930

International Code of Botanical Nomen-

clature.

And yet, over time it has been found in the

scientific literature that a single plant can

be given multiple scientific names. This is

the result of disagreements amongst the

botanists/taxonomists, and for other rea-

sons. Still these numerous scientific names

continue to cause confusion and problems

especially among the medicinal herbs.

Seeking to resolve such problems (and

other issues), the Royal Botanic Gardens,

Kew, and the Missouri Botanical Garden

(MOBOT) are currently conducting “The

Plant List” project. When completed “ The

Plant List” project should indicate which

scientific names are accepted as correct

and which are synonyms. Lindsay Stafford

has reported on this on-going project:“The

plant List: The First Comprehensive In-

ventory of Most Known Plant Species” in

the November 2010 issue of HerbalE-

Gram. In this report it was stated that “if

you search online resources for a medici-

nal or nutritional plant using just one of

the alternative scientific names of a spe-

cies, you might only find 20% of the infor-

mation about this species”.

People need to be alerted to these facts, so

that if they are interested in finding out

about any plant species, they need to

search using its alternative scientific

names (synonyms) as well.

Just suppose that you were trying to dis-

cover the facts about a medicinal plant;

where does it grow; does it have anti-

oxidant constituents; is it poisonous

or not, etc., etc.? You will need to

know the name(s) used for this herb

as recorded, if you are to find this

information in the scientific litera-

ture; and you will need to know the

scientific names used for it. So the

first problem arises, if you know

only the common (local vernacular)

name, but not the scientific (Latin

binomial name) of this herb.

The fact is that nearly every widely

used medicinal plant is known by

two or more common names. For

example, the local herb called Shado

beni in other countries is known by

other names, varying from Cilantro

and Bhandhaniya, to Fit Weed and

Spirit Weed and Sawtooth Corian-

der. The botanists (taxonomists) will

identify it everywhere by its scien-

tific name Eryngium foetidum L.,

and in this way any confusion is

minimized. Using the scientific name

will facilitate the on-line search for the

attributes of the plant. Of course the same

approaches will apply to any other plant

such as Garlic (Allium sativum).

Most of the oldest scientific names used

for plants are found in the 1753 book

“Species Plantarum” written by Carl Lin-

naeus, a Swedish botanist who is de-

scribed as the founder of taxonomy. It was

he who stated that: “If the names are un-

known, knowledge of the things also per-

ishes”.

In “Species Plantarum”, Linnaeus intro-

duced the binomial system of scientific

naming by combining the genus name and

How to find out about herbal treatments?

Page 2

CaHMRI News

THE FACT IS THAT

NEARLY EVERY

WIDELY USED

MEDICINAL PLANT IS

KNOWN BY TWO OR

MORE COMMON

NAMES.

Eryngium foetidum

Allium sativum

“Developments in Botanical Dietary Sup-

plements Research from 1994 to Today”

was the title of a large one-day sympo-

sium held in Chicago, U.S.A. in March,

2010. It focused on the many possible

applications of plants to human health,

whilst embracing a broad number of sci-

entific disciplines, and it was widely per-

ceived as both an educational overview

and inspiring communication among

stakeholders. During its four sessions,

this meeting covered major aspects of

herbal medicinal product quality, regula-

tion and funding, the generation of clini-

cal evidence and other related issues. Ma-

jor sponsors of the event included two

agencies of the National Institutes of

Health, namely the Office of Dietary

Supplements (ODS) and the National

Center for Alternative and Complemen-

tary Medicine (NCCAM).

In the U.S., since the passage of the Die-

tary Supplements Health and Education

Act (“DSHEA”) in 1994, a herbal me-

dicinal product (“herb or other botani-

cal”) could be classified legally in the

market-place as a “dietary supplement”,

but not as a drug.

An editorial comment by Guido F. Pauli

was published in Fitoterapia journal is-

sue for January 2011, concerning the pro-

ceedings of the March symposium. His

introductory statements reflect the scien-

tist’s views, which are quoted as follows.

“Plants and mankind have evolved to-

gether throughout human history, and

throughout that history, mankind has

been utilizing plants for countless pur-

poses.” Ultimately, it is the (photo)

autotrophic character and ability of plants

to provide characteristic chemicals, i.e.,

phyto-constituents that serve as nutrients,

essential factors, therapeutics, and toxins,

which have given them an invaluable role

in human development. Accordingly, it

seems only natural that plants have al-

ways had therapeutic value...

“Historically they have been classified

very broadly as

either thera-

peutic or

toxic”.

Dr. Pauli also

states that

“Prior to 1994

and in the

U.S., only very

few plants in-

cluding ginger,

ephedra, and

aloe were considered to be over-the-

counter drugs. All other plant materi-

als were not classified at all. While they

could be sold, no health-related claims

were allowed unless they were approved

according to standards set by the US Food

and Drugs Administration (FDA), which

required significant scientific evidence for

the linkage between nutrient and disor-

der”.

Amongst its other achievements, the sym-

posium included up-to-date descriptions

of pre-clinical studies done on Noni

(Morinda citrifolia) fruits, and it empha-

sized the key role of placebo in the con-

duct of clinical trials using herbal medici-

nal products.

Herbal scientific studies in America

Page 3

Volume 2, Issue:5

“PLANTS AND MANKIND

HAVE EVOLVED

TOGETHER THROUGHOUT

HUMAN HISTORY, AND

THROUGHOUT THAT

HISTORY, MANKIND HAS

BEEN UTILIZING PLANTS

FOR COUNTLESS

PURPOSES..”

FUTURE ISSUES will include:

*Antidiabetic plants

*Harmful herbs

* Legendary herbal aphrodisiacs

To send us your comments

about this newsletter,

please contact;- The Herbal Institute at UTT at Tel: 1 (868) 673 0029 / 673 2654 compton.seaforth@utt.edu.tt or jennifer.paul@utt.edu.tt

Lantana camara