Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal.
Nowadays, the current global healthcare trend is growing significantly. The Department of International Trade revealed information about Thailand’s top three herbal champions with the highest export values. These herbs are poised for expansion in international markets, contributing to Thailand’s income.
1) 1st Place: Andrographis Paniculata (Fah Talai Jone)
Export value: 70.23 million baht
Main export markets: Laos, Hong Kong, and Singapore
2) 2nd Place: Turmeric
Export value: 42.9 million baht
Main export markets: USA, Netherlands, and India
3) 3rd Place: Black Ginger
Export value: 4.47 million baht
Main export markets: China, Germany, and USA
Additionally, 12 other herbs show potential for development and elevation to herbal champions. These include Fingerroot, Indian Gooseberry, Phlai, White Kwao Krua, Kratom, Aloe Vera, Centella, Bitter Melon, Hemp, Cannabis, Derris Scandens, and Ginger. These herbs can be developed into high-value-added products in food and beverages.
Therefore, details of Andrographis Paniculata (Fah Talai Jone), Turmeric, and Black Ginger are presented in this article.
A. paniculata has been used in Siddha and Ayurvedic medicine and is promoted as a dietary supplement for cancer prevention and cure. Andrographolide is the major constituent extracted from the leaves of Fah Talai Jone. It is an extremely bitter substance.
Turmeric is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Its powder has a warm, bitter, black pepper-like flavor and earthy, mustard-like aroma. Turmeric powder is about 60–70% carbohydrates, 6–13% water, 6–8% protein, 5–10% fat, 3–7% dietary minerals, 3–7% essential oils, 2–7% dietary fiber, and 1–6% curcuminoids. The following properties of curcuminoids alone and in association with other modified form have been shown to have effective on neuroprotective, antitumor, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-acidogenic, radioprotective, sexually transmitted infections, anti-esophageal, anti-nephrotoxicity, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-angiogeneic, anti-proliferative, anti-immunomodulatory, hepatoprotectivity, antimalarial, anticytotoxicity and anti-diabetic properties.
Black Ginger appears to be healthy and a good source of a class of bioflavonoid compounds with methoxy groups added to them, known as methoxyflavones. The methoxyflavones (flavones with methoxy groups attached to them) are seen as the main compounds, with the three known as DMF, TMF, and PMF being most commonly researched.
The presence of those compounds contributed to a wider range of medicinal effects such as cellular metabolismregulating activity, anticancer activity, vascular relaxation and cardioprotective activity, sexual enhancing activity, neuroprotective activity, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative activity, anti-osteoarthritis activity, anti-microorganism activity, and transdermal permeable activity.
References:
1) https://en.wikipedia.org
2) https://thailand.go.th
3) www.drugfuture.com
4) www.researchgate.net
5) Augustine A., Anitha P., Sreerag G., and Sreeraj G. (2017) Biological activities of curcuminoids, other biomolecules from turmeric and their derivatives e A review, Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine 7: 205 – 233.
6) https://examine.com
7) https://vitaminretailer.com
8) Chaisuwan, V., Dajanta, K., and Srikaeo, K. (2022) Effects of extraction methods on antioxidants and methoxyflavones of Kaempferia parviflora, Food Research 6(3): 374 – 381.
