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The herbal related market includes herbs used as food or food additives, cosmetic ingredients, and herbal medicines. The current estimates for this market ranges between USD 40-100 billion with an average annual growth rate of 15 to 20% (Merican 2003 and Exim Bank 2003). Malaysians have consumed RM 2 billion worth of herbal products in 1997, which was double the amount spent per person as compared to consumers in the US (Merican 2003) These statistics show the significance of this industry.
Dr. Paul Zane Pilzer (2001), in his book entitled ‘The Next Trillion’ values the US healthcare industry to be above 1 trillion dollars for both pharmaceutical and food based products each. He predicts that the spending will shift fromillness oriented products, such as pharmaceuticals, to wellness promoting products, such as herbs and nutraceuticals. Table 1 lists out several common forms of herbal related products and their commonly accepted definitions.
A significant portion of this market are medicinal products from plant sources. Many allopathic medicines, which are produced synthetically, are also derived from plants such as quinine for malaria and quinidine for hearth arrhythmia from Cinchona spp, and digoxin for heart failure from Digitalis spp. About 25% of drugs prescribed worldwide come from plants, 121 such active compounds being in current use (Rates 2001).
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