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Herbal medicine still has its place in the modern world

Herbal medicine still has its place in the modern world

Thursday, 06/07/2023

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The importance of herbal plants is undeniable. Herb-based medicine has been used by humans since many thousand years ago.

Herbal plants have been utilized in many aspects of health care, as food, and as perfume.

The country’s herbal industry is also classified as agricultural commodity by the Malaysian government, with an estimated value of more than RM32 billion and a projected growth of 15 perfect per year.

Herb expert Prof. Dr. Fadzilah@Adibah Abdul Majid from the Institute of Climate Adaptation and Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), said the country had lost lot of data on herb-based traditional medicine because the information was never recorded.

“We do not know when Malay and Nusantara traditional medicine began to be used among the communities and who used it.

“People from the earlier generation must have had their own medicinal system to be able to live until the current generation. If not, they would not have been able to survive. But what had happened to it,” she said during her inaugural speech at Sultanah Nur Zahirah Library Auditorium, UMT, entitled “Herbal Medicine Based on Evidence”.

She said that about 80 percent of the world’s population is still using herb-based medicine although it is now a modern era.

“The government realized that the demand of herbal medicine is still high and it has introduced the Drug Act 1952 and Medicine Act 1971 to control the abuse of the plants.”

Malaysia, according to her, is lucky to have fertile lands and various herbal plants with potential to be turned into medicinal products and health food.

Prof. Fadzilah has developed a herb-based product that can alleviate joint pain.

“Most people over 40 years will experience joint pain and also information.

“We have created R-38 using the best herbs, and the product underwent a thorough process to ensure its originality, cleanliness, and quality.

“Among the medicinal herbs used are lengkuas (Alpinia galangal), misai kucing (Orthosiphon stamineus) dan temulawak (Curcuma xanthorrhiza). All these herbs have been scientifically studied for treatment of joint problems and arthritis.

She said the studies found that the herbs possess antioxidant, anti inflammation,  and analgesic properties.

R-38 can delay the production of Xanthine Oxidase (XO) enzyme, which may lower the uric acid content, and stunt the production of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme, which will reduce inflammation and pain.

She added that the herb-based ecosystem needs to be enhanced through involvement from people of all ages and agencies to produce a generation that is herb-literate and subsequently contribute towards the improvement of the community’s socioeconomic status.

Meanwhile UMT Vice Chancellor Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mazlan Abd Ghaffar considered the speech  very informative.

“This kind of event is a good platform for academics to share their experience and knowledge in their respective fields.

“I hope that this platform will be used by lecturers at UMT especially the young ones to sustain the knowledge-sharing activities and to motivate themselves to achieve excellence,” he said.

 

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Corporate Communications Office

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu