PHYTOMEDICINEA new dimension in healthcare

WHAT ARE PHYTOMEDICINES ?

• Phytomedicine, also called Botanical/Plant Medicine, differs from Chinese Herbalism. Phytotherapists use medicinal plants, which grow mainly in the western hemisphere, and do not combine their therapy with acupuncture. The word ‘phyto’ derives from the Greek work plant; hence it means plant based medicine. Phytomedicine is rooted in scientific research and therefore not to be confused with homeopathy

• It takes its name from the word used in other parts of Europe, where plant based medicines continue to be provided by doctors and pharmacists as ‘phytomedicines’.

• The methods used to evaluate plant based medicines are similar to those used by orthodox medicine. Yet, a herb contains many active chemicals, unlike conventional drugs, which focus on specific chemicals. Hence botanical or herbal medicines may combine several actions to support the body’s health.

HOW DOES PHYTOMEDICINE WORK?

• In Phytomedicine, plant medicines are selected to stimulate or strengthen the body’s own functions and immune system, hence support the body to restore itself to health. The phytotherapist approaches each patient as a unique individual in making a diagnosis and assessing his or her needs. Any herbal medicine prescribed may be a combination of plants chosen for the therapeutic actions required to treat that individual.

• This gives phytomedicine an edge over antibiotics, as bacteria cannot develop resistance against these drugs because they strengthen the immune system instead of destroying the pathogens.

EXAMPLES OF PHYTOMEDICINE

A few very well known examples are:

• Anis seed, shikimic acid (Tamiflu, Gilead/Roche)

• Taxus brevifolia is the active constituent of the anti-cancer drug Taxol (1971)

• Benzylpenicillin (1928, London, UK)

• Morphine from opium poppy (1923, Germany)

• Qininine from cinchona bark (1820, France)

• Salicin from willow bark, known as Aspirin (1838, France)

• Atropine from belladonna (1833)

• Caffeine from the coffee shrub (1821)

• Coniine from hemlock (1826)

• Emetine from ipecacuanha (1817)

• Strychnine from Strychhnos (1817)

HOW PLANT TO MEDICINE

• These crude plant material is extracted by the phytotherapist for their active constituents (phytochemicals) with various methods and these are based on European and national legislation. Phytotherapists mainly use alcohol to extract the plant’s active constituents from dry or fresh plant parts. Alcoholic extracts are prepared by maceration and/or percolation. Plant barks and root constituents are more successfully extracted with differing gradients of alcohol, depending on the particular plant. Decoction or infusions are often too weak to extract the active constituents of harder plant materials, and are used preferably in aerial plant parts only. Hence most phytomedicines are prescribed as alcoholic tinctures, which are usually taken twice a day. A typical phytomedical daily dose is 15ml of alcohol, a minute but very effective amount.

BACOPA MONNIERA

• Bacopa monniera, a member of the Scrophulariaceae family, is a small, creeping herb with numerous branches, small oblong leaves, and light purple flowers. In India and the tropics it grows naturally in wet soil, shallow water, and marshes. The herb can be found at elevations from sea level to altitudes of 4,400 feet, and is easily cultivated if adequate water is available. Flowers and fruit appear in summer and the entire plant is used medicinally.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATION

BESEB Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India has developed a unique single plant based natural memory enhancer formulation - BESEB (“Bacosides Enriched Standardized Extract of Bacopa”) from the herb Bacopa monniera. The process for making enrichment of the active constituents (Bacosides A & B) in BESEB has been patented by CDRI (CSIR). The plant is commonly known as Brahmi which has been used in the Indian System of Ayurvedic Medicine as a traditional herb for over 3000 years to enhance memory and learning.

HOW AND WHY DOES THE CDRI BRAHMI EXTRACT BESEB DIFFER FROM OTHER BRAHMI

EXTRACTS?

• Each capsule of BESEB contains a standardized and an optimum quantity of the enriched Bacosides A and B extracted from the plant Bacopa monniera as per CDRI(CSIR) quality control parameters. These bacosides are extracted based on a unique process know-how, developed and patented by the CDRI(CSIR)

HOW DOES BESEB WORK AND WHAT ARE ITS BENEFITS?

• Compounds responsible for the pharmacological effects of Bacopa include alkaloids, saponins, and sterols. Many active constituents – the alkaloids Brahmine and herpestine, saponins d-mannitol and hersaponin, acid A, and monnierin – were isolated in India over 40 years ago. Other active constituents have since been identified, including betulic acid, stigmastarol, beta-sitosterol, as well as numerous bacosides and bacopasaponins. The constituents responsible for Bacopa’s cognitive effects are bacosides A and B.5-9

• Dr. Robert Furchgott, a Nobel Laureate (1998) discovered that when BESEB is taken, it releases a small amount of nitric oxide which helps to reduce anxiety allowing focus and concentration and improves blood circulation in brain.

• Facilitates learning, improves consolidation of learned behavior

• Induces an increase in protein kinase activity, serotonin and lowers the epinephrine levels in the brain areas that contribute to facilitatory effect of BESEB on long-term and intermediate forms of memory.

• Enhances the cholinergic neurotransmitter system in brain.

• Reduces anxiety in adults and children that enhances focus and concentration in logical memory, digit forward and paired associated learning.

• Possesses adaptogenic effect to combat day-to-day stress and improves mental alertness and sharpens short-term and long-term memory.

• Has potent antioxidant activity.

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM BESEB

• For Age Associated Memory Impairment (AAMI) in elderly person

• For Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children

• For those who want improve memory, relieve stress, anxiety

RECOMMENDED DOSAGE

• Each capsule contains BESEB – 150 mg and with dicalcium phosphate (excipient) -250 mg

• For adults one capsule twice daily after food

• For children (7 to 12 years old) one capsule once a day after breakfast.

• It is advisable to continue taking BESEB for at least 3 months for a significant effect, thereafter maintaining one capsule daily as long as the person wishes to.

SIDE EFFECTS AND TOXICITY

• Therapeutic doses of Bacopa are not associated with any known side effects, and Bacopa has been used safely in Ayurvedic medicine for several hundred years. A double-blind, placebocontrolled clinical trial of healthy male volunteers investigated the safety of pharmacological doses of isolated bacosides over a four-week period. Concentrated bacosides given in single (20-30 mg) and multiple (100-200 mg) daily doses were well tolerated and without adverse effects. The LD50 of Bacopa extracts administered orally to rats was5 g/kg for aqueous extracts and 17 g/kg of the alcohol extract. Neither extract resulted in gross behavioral changes at these concentrations.

REFERENCES

• Mukherjee DG, Dey CD. Clinical trial on Brahmi.I. J Exper Med Sci 1966;10:5-11.

• Singh HK, Dhawan BN. Neuropsychopharmacological effects of the Ayurvedic nootropic Bacopa monniera Linn. (Brahmi). Indian J Pharmacol 1997;29(5):S359-65.

• Channa S, Dar A, Yaqoob M, Anjum S, Sultani Z, Atta-ur-Rahman. Broncho-vasodilatory activity of fractions and pure constituents isolated from Bacopa monniera. J Ethnopharmacol. 2003 May; 86(1): 27-35.

• Goel RK, Sairam K, Babu MD, Tavares IA, Raman A. In vitro evaluation of Bacopa monniera on anti-Helicobacter pylori activity and accumulation of prostaglandins. Phytomedicine. 2003; 10(6-7): 523-7.

• Sairam K, Rao CV, Babu MD, Goel RK. Prophylactic and curative effects of Bacopa monniera in gastric ulcer models. Phytomedicine. 2001 Nov; 8(6): 423-30.

• Negi KS, Singh YD, Kushwaha KP, Rastogi CK, Rathi AK, Srivastava JS, Asthana OP, Gupta RC, Lucknow G. "Clinical evaluation of memory enhancing properties of Memory Plus in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 2000 Apr; 42(2) Supplement

• Stough C, Lloyd J, Clarke J, Downey LA, Hutchison CW, Rodgers T, Nathan PJ. The chronic effects of an extract of Bacopa monniera (Brahmi) on cognitive function in healthy human subjects. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2001 Aug;156(4):481-4