Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Many plant species have been studied thoroughly for their value as a source of medicine. [6] [7] They have a wide range of benefits such as anti-fever and anti-inflammatory properties, can treat diseases such as malaria and diabetes, and are used as vitamins and antibiotic and antifungal medications.
In pharmacology, biological activity or pharmacological activity describes the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. [1] [2] When a drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or pharmacophore but can be modified by the other constituents.
phytotherapy: the study of medicinal use of plant extracts; phytochemistry: the study of chemicals derived from plants (including the identification of new drug candidates derived from plant sources); zoopharmacognosy: the process by which animals self-medicate, by selecting and using plants, soils, and insects to treat and prevent disease;
Pharmacognosy provides the tools to detect, isolate and identify bioactive natural products that could be developed for medicinal use. When an "active principle" is isolated from a traditional medicine or other biological material, this is known as a "hit
The dosage form for a pharmaceutical contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient, which is the drug substance itself, and excipients, which are the ingredients of the tablet, or the liquid in which the active agent is suspended, or other material that is pharmaceutically inert. Drugs are chosen primarily for their active ingredients.
A bioactive compound is a compound that has an effect on a living organism, tissue or cell, usually demonstrated by basic research in vitro or in vivo in the laboratory. While dietary nutrients are essential to life, bioactive compounds have not been proved to be essential – as the body can function without them – or because their actions are obscured by nutrients fulfilling the function.
In most of the developing world, especially in rural areas, local traditional medicine, including herbalism, is the only source of health care for people, while in the developed world, alternative medicine including use of dietary supplements is marketed aggressively using the claims of traditional medicine.
Under Canadian law, a nutraceutical can be marketed as either a food or a drug; the terms "nutraceutical" and "functional food" have no legal distinction, [7] as both refer to "a product isolated or purified from foods that is generally sold in medicinal forms not usually associated with food [and] is demonstrated to have a physiological benefit or provide protection against chronic disease."