Traditional Medicine Disadvantages

Use of traditional medicine is increasing gaining popularity not only in developing countries but throughout the globe. WHO describes traditional medicine as “Traditional Medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.” The complementary or alternative medicine refer to a broad set of health care practices that are part of that country's own tradition and mostly are not integrated into the dominant health care system (1). Unlike the conventional medicine the traditional medicine practices

From the past centuries the practice of traditional medicines has been passed on to generations without a parallel development of international standards and appropriate methods for evaluation. In the light of the current strict pharmaceutical era, scientific research is needed to provide proper evidence of its safety and efficacy. Voluminous expansion in the use of traditional medicine has eventually raised the safety, efficacy and quality concerns for both health authorities and the public. Traditional medicine with proven quality, safety and efficacy will eventually contribute to the goal of ensuring health care assess to whole population. Many countries now recognize the need to develop a cohesive and integrative approach to access traditional and complementary medicine in a trustworthy and cost effective manner (3).

The quantity and quality of the safety and efficacy data on traditional medicine are far from sufficient to meet the criteria needed to support its use worldwide. All these aspects of traditional medicine use globally are urging to take over the hilarious tusk of developing harmonized international

herb and botanical sales were at $4.8 billion, with an estimated growth rate of nearly 4%. Raw herbal material sales are declining by 41% since 1999 mostly imported from China and India. The European market for herbal supplements and herbal medicines is currently worth $7.4 billion. Germany is the largest European market, with a 27% share, followed by France (24%), Italy (12%) and the U.K (9%). Uncertain regulatory environment and pending legal action related to the EU Food Supplement Directive has stifled herbal product market development in UK. The fastest-growing categories of herbal medicines include weight loss products and sport nutrition. In addition to low-dose vitamins, the food supplement category includes products such as guarana, chitosan, fibers, fish oil, borage oil, lycopene, lutein, evening primrose oil, DHA, lecithin and aloe veram (5).

Safety issues of traditional medicine

Herbal drug market has changed significantly over the past decade with the advent of new segments like functional foods and cosmeceuticals. Herbal manufacturer is harnessing the current global consumer interest in natural and functional foods such as botanical alternatives to animal-sourced omega 3 fatty acids from fish, artificial coloring agents, new varieties of fiber and beauty foods. The growth and development of the herbal botanical drug market is not as deserved due to requirements of long product research and development time and drug registration