Herbal Health and Happiness

It's late into the evening. It was a long day at work and the homeward traffic is heavy. By the time this executive steers the car into the driveway of home the stresses and strains of a frustrating day are overwhelming. What can relieve the pressure? Will it be tobacco? Alcohol? Or will the office worker reach for one of the new range of products containing herbal extracts which have made their way into more and more medicine cupboards, briefcases and handbags?

"I take about 25 herbal and vitamin supplements a day" admitted Thomas Aart, Executive Editor of Nutrition Business Journal, one of seventy or more executives and company directors of businesses who rely on the world's appetite for soothing herbal remedies who attended the recent Herbal Extracts 2000 Conference in London. He told fellow delegates, "In the last few years the United States has woken up to the dream of herbal happiness. We have one person turning fifty every seven seconds. If herbal supplements can be shown to prevent disease, and do so at less cost than chemical medicines, then there will be another huge increase in demand and we'll need new suppliers of the raw material."

While most of the conference was taken up with presentations analysing market trends and examining the exhaustive testing and registration procedures, several delegates were eager to share advice for potential suppliers. "It's so important for farmers to be able to feel the real trends - rather than the transitory ones," said Denzil Philips who promotes natural products, particularly from the tropics, "otherwise they'll put effort into a product that disappears after a few months and all they get is disappointment". Or they will lose out when bigger concerns take over the cultivation of the crop in demand? Pacific Islanders have just set up their own Pacific Kava Council to ensure the region's farmers benefit more from the huge growth in interest in the use of the mildly narcotic kava (see also Developments 99-2 Kaving a niche for Fiji). Peggy Brevoort of A. M. Todd Botanicals in the United States says this is a good example of indigenous people moving to protect themselves from exploitation. "I always want to caution people as they get into the cultivation of medicinal plants - it's a volatile market." (see also Essence of Success)

Finding a sympathetic partner in the phytopharmaceutical world is one way for farmers - as individuals or groups - to find a way into the herbal extract market and sizeable profit. In India, several growers of the 300 plants used in Ayurvedic medicine have signed up to deals with Ayucore Ltd. in the United States. "It's a partnership with the farmers," explains Barry Bald, who heads the company's international operations. "One plant, Withania sumniflora, is seasonal and can only be harvested twice a year. So we plan with farmers when it should be planted, what fertiliser and what water it should get to ensure the best yield. If we miss our mark, we have to wait another six months before we can recover."

The popularity of herbal products can fluctuate just as wildly as human health. Observers of the fashions and fortunes in the market for herbal extracts wonder how St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) will recover from current concerns over the safety of using it with other treatments for heart and depressive disorders. It enjoyed a 2000% jump in popularity in the US 1996-98 and the value of the plant itself bounced high as well. Now that cultivation of it has increased to match, prices have fallen back. But generally, at the Herbal Extracts 2000 conference, manufacturers were happy that there will be a steady increase in consumption. Southern African plants, such as Namibian Devil's Claw, which is under trial for treating arthritis, look set to be in vogue. Farmers do not have to look far to see which plants will prove profitable. "Stress, fatigue, a feeling of life running too fast, wanting to look and feel younger - these are the things that more and more people want herbal extracts to help with," says Peggy Brevoort. For anyone who can prove they grow the plant that will treat those, they are on to a winner.

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