Papers presented at the National Symposium on Recent Trends in Spices & Medicinal Plants Research, held at Calcutta during 2-4 April 1998.

Plants and other living organisms have great potential to treat human disease. There are two distinct types of biomedical research that seek to develop this potential. One type of research explores the value of medicinal plants as traditionally used and studies of these plants have the potential to determine which plants are most potent, optimize dosages and dose forms, and identify safety risks. Another type of research uses bioassays to identify single molecules from plants that have interesting bioactivities in isolation and might be useful lead compounds for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. This new volume of Advances in Botanical Research covers the recent trends in Medicinal Plants Research over 11 chapters. Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy. Covers the recent trends in medicinal plants research over 11 chapters Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy

The hills and oceans of India contain a variety of medicinal plants, which have been used traditionally for treatment of various diseases. Most of these plants are known to the local tribes and remains scientifically unexplored. Books on medicinal plants or spices are available in the market but a book dealing together with both medicinal plants and spices is quite new. This book contains a variety of topics and is the first of its kind that deals exclusively with traditional and medicinal uses, cultivation, preservation, processing and trade of not only medicinal plants but also spices. Moreover, this book provides valuable information o the current status of research related to herbal medicines throughout the country and tries to explain the folklore and traditional uses in terms of modern scientific findings. The data in this book will be specially of use to pharmacists, analysts, botanists, toxicologists, chemists, pharmacognosists and biochemists.

The latest research on the health benefits and optimal processing technologies of herbs and spices This book provides a comprehensive overview of the health benefits, analytical techniques used, and effects of processing upon the physicochemical properties of herbs and spices. Presented in three parts, it opens with a section on the technological and health benefits of herbs and spices. The second part reviews the effect of classical and novel processing techniques on the properties of herbs/spices. The third section examines extraction techniques and analytical methodologies used for herbs and spices. Filled with contributions from experts in academia and industry, Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants: Processing, Health Benefits and Safety offers chapters covering thermal and non-thermal processing of herbs and spices, recent developments in high-quality drying of herbs and spices, conventional and novel techniques for extracting bioactive compounds from herbs and spices, and approaches to analytical techniques. It also examines purification and isolation techniques for enriching bioactive phytochemicals, medicinal properties of herbs and spices, synergy in whole-plant medicine, potential applications of polyphenols from herbs and spices in dairy products, biotic and abiotic safety concerns, and adverse human health effects and regulation of metal contaminants in terrestrial plant-derived food and phytopharmaceuticals. Covers the emerging health benefits of herbs and spices, including their use as anti-diabetics, anti-inflammatories, and anti-oxidants Reviews the effect of classical and novel processing techniques on the properties of herbs and spices Features informed perspectives from noted academics and professionals in the industry Part of Wiley's new IFST Advances in Food Science series Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants is an important book for companies, research institutions, and universities active in the areas of food processing and the agri-food environment. It will appeal to food scientists and engineers, environmentalists, and food regulatory agencies.

The global popularity of herbal supplements and the promise they hold in treating various disease states has caused an unprecedented interest in understanding the molecular basis of the biological activity of traditional remedies. Herbal Medicine: Biomolecular and Clinical Aspects focuses on presenting current scientific evidence of biomolecular ef

Herbal Technology: Recent Trends and Progress is a comprehensive book on the various trends and the aspects of this recent branch of Botany. Herbal Technology encompasses all the myriads of ways of utilizing the multifarious potentialities of plants for human welfare. There are presently five aspects such as Medicinal plants, Natural dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilizers and Biofuel in this discipline, though more and more may added by the brilliant workers who tread this path at a later stage. Medicinal plants which form the first section contains a number of papers dealing with biomarkers, both pharmacognostic and phytochemical, on a good number of medicinal plants as well as many ethnobotanical surveys. Natural Dyes form the second section and it covers the application of dyes from six plants such as Rohira, Katha, Ravenchi wood, Annatto, Babool, banana on various textiles. In the section on Biofertilizers papers on the utility of marine algae, blue green algae and Am fungi are included. In the last section, Biofuels, the utility of biogas as well as a number of new sources of fatty oils have been presented. This book will serve as a reference book for students, teachers and workers of Medicinal plants, Natural Dyes, Biopesticides, Biofertilisers and Biofuel.