Who is the report targeted at?
This report is aimed at growers, researchers and investors as a reference of supporting science-based medical evidence on a range of medicinal plants.

Background
Plants have always been a source of medicine and a major resource for human health care. Chinese traditional medicine has documented the use of botanicals for over 2,000 years. Natural products and mainly plants (greater than 80%) are the basis of traditional Chinese medicine. About 500 species are commonly prescribed by Chinese medical practitioners but up to 2,000 plants have a history of recorded use. The scientific study of substances used medicinally by different ethnic or cultural groups is viewed by researchers as an increasingly relevant and important source of new medicinal products. Chinese medicinal herbals make up a large proportion of the over US$15 billion annual worldwide sales of natural medicines.

Chinese medicines have been developed to treat all important diseases including chronic ailments. In Australia the most important of these include coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia and respiratory disease (including asthma). Total health expenditure (around 10% of gross domestic product) is an increasing burden on the Australian economy and one that continues to increase with pressure from an ageing population.

Studies show that 60% of Australian consumers have spent some of their health dollars on supplements and natural remedies. In 2004, Australians spent AU$1.8 billion on complementary medicines and therapies. There is a willingness to believe that some of these ‘alternative remedies’ may be effective options to mainstream Western treatments.

Methods used
All the screened literature pertaining to human health effects was science-based and published either in recognised science and medical journals, or review text books. Scientific and medical data were primarily sourced from the PubMed electronic database which also covers relevant Chinese journals.

Results from human trials were given most weight in evaluation.

The study considered around 500 Asian medicinal plant species and directly reviewed and documented information on over 400 with links to some of Australia’s chronic diseases. Ninety-eight percent of these were higher plants (ie. angiosperms and gymnosperms). Over 3,500 scientific reference items were reviewed and over 1,000 of these were directly referenced in species summaries. There were more species (around 165) associated with anticancer effects than any other chronic disease, suggesting that if Asian and in particular Chinese medicinal species are to make new impacts on human health in Australia, there is a strong chance that this will be as anticancer agents.

Results
There is a general lack of human efficacy testing associated with the use of most Asian medicinal plants. Conclusive positive human results from randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled experiments were only available for a limited number of crops. Table 1. below lists existing Australian commercial crops that are important Chinese medicinal plants with strong support from medical efficacy trials. Many are relatively small, new crops in Australia. However, given the strength of their efficacy data and the considerable recent Australian investment (research and economic) that most of these plants have attracted, there are good opportunities to develop these into much more important commercial crops.

Table 1: Existing Australian commercial crops with supporting medical efficacy trial data

 

Recommendations

• There is a need to keep surveying the medical literature with the view of capturing the latest research into a single easily accessible source for the benefit of the developing Australian industry. The beneficiaries of this would be producers, researchers, and investors looking to capture a sector of the growing herbal market that is expected to reach $USD 5 trillion in 2050.
• One of the outputs of this project is a database, and it is recommended that this should be maintained for public access. Beneficiaries of this information should be encouraged to contribute financially towards the updating and maintenance of this database.
• During the compilation of the database, a number of crops were identified that are recommended for further research. These crops were considered to be close to commercial exploitation in Australia but in need of some further research into health related data or economic production systems. In the following tables (2,3,4,5), these crops are collated under headings that indicate the level of available efficacy data and production taking place in Australia.

Table 2: Existing crops that require human trial testing

 

Table 3. Current ornamentals grown in Australia that could be developed for medicinal properties

 

 Table 4: Potential ‘new’ commercial crops for Australian producers that are supported by good efficacy data

 

Table 5: Australian indigenous species with potential medicinal properties