Number 6, June - American Botanical Council

HerbalEGram

Volume 16 - 2019

HerbalEGram

Features And News

Key Takeaways from the FDA's Public Hearing on Products Containing Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Compounds

By Stefan Gafner, PhD
As cannabis and cannabis-derived ingredients experience a boom in popularity in the food, beverage, cosmetic, and supplement industries, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) faces the issue of regulating this new market. In order to hear insights in regard to safety, quality, and marketing claims, the FDA held a public hearing on May 31, 2019. ABC Chief Science Officer Stefan Gafner, PhD, attended this hearing and shares his key takeaways from the event. Read more >>

Great Pied Hornbill
©2019 Sebastian Pole

FairWild Project in India Is a Win-Win-Win for Terminalia Trees, People, and Hornbills

By Connor Yearsley
A FairWild Standard implementation project in the Western Ghats of India is demonstrating the potential social, economic, and ecological benefits of the standard. For local people, harvesting the FairWild-certified fruits of belleric myrobalan and chebulic myrobalan, two of the three ingredients of Ayurveda’s famous triphala formula, has provided a better alternative to logging. This project also protects the nesting/roosting sites of two rare hornbill species, both of which may eat the fruits and disperse the seeds. This article includes a Q&A with Josef Brinckmann, an expert on the FairWild Standard, and discusses its benefits and viability. Read more >>

Celery
©2019 Steven Foster

Food as Medicine: Celery (Apium graveolens, Apiaceae)

By Jenny Perez
The humble celery plant, often relegated to a vehicle for peanut butter, offers much more than meets the eye. Used for thousands of years in the traditional practices of its native Mediterranean area, the stalk and seed provide aromatic compounds that are being investigated for their benefits in cancer prevention, gout and arthritis, lowering blood pressure, and more. Read more >>

ABC News:

Neem Biotech Adopts Garlic and Artichoke through ABC’s Adopt-an-Herb Program. June 10, 2019.

Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program News:

ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program Receives NutraIngredients-USA Editors Award for Industry Initiative of the Year. June 4, 2019.

Sustainable Herbs Program News:

Teaching About the Herb Industry and Sustainability. May 17, 2019.

HerbalGram

ABC News:
ABC Publishes Pycnogenol Monograph

Org News:
AHP Publishes Two Monographs and Therapeutic Compendia

Research Review:
Herbal Medicines for Depression and Anxiety during Menopause

Book Review:
Cannabis sativa L. Botany and Biotechnology

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Featured Book

Yin Yang Balance for Menopause: The Korean Tradition of Sasang Medicine was written by Gary Wagman, PhD, LAc, and published in 2019 by Healing Arts Press. The excerpt includes the title page, table of contents, foreword by Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, and a section from Chapter One, “Setting Sail.”

Acupuncturist and Eastern medicine practitioner Gary Wagman applies the traditions of Sasang medicine to menopause, exploring how each of the four Sasang body types has its own unique menopausal challenges, as well as opportunities, and how the natural remedies and diets that work for one type might not work for another. Presenting natural remedies, exercises, supplements, and diet and food recommendations for each Sasang body type, Wagman also includes body-type-specific Sasang herbal remedies for the most common challenges related to menopause, including hot flashes, osteoporosis, depression, mood swings, hormone balance, urinary health, fibroids, frozen shoulder, brain fog, and loss of libido.

Yin Yang Balance for Menopause can be purchased from the publisher. ©2019 Inner Traditions. This material is reprinted with permission from the publisher and may not be used for any other purpose.

Media Watch

Earliest Evidence for Cannabis Smoking Discovered in Ancient Tombs. National Geographic. June 12, 2019. The earliest direct evidence for human consumption of cannabis as a drug has been discovered in a 2,500-year-old cemetery in China.

Bulgaria in Contention to Be the First EU Country to Allow Open Sale of CBD. NutraIngredients.com. June 11, 2019. Bulgaria could be the first country in Europe to permit the sale of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) nutraceutical products on the open market, granting authorization to US-based firm Kannaway.

Blueberries May Offer Heart Health Benefits to Adults with Metabolic Syndrome. Nutraceuticals World. June 4, 2019. Participants with metabolic syndrome who consumed the equivalent of one cup of fresh blueberries showed clinically relevant changes in measures of heart health in a recently published study.

Native Plant Species May Be at Greater Risk from Climate Change than Non-Natives. Science World Report. June 1, 2019. Warming temperatures affect native and non-native flowering plants differently, which could change the look of local landscapes over time.

Will FDA Change Its Definition of a Dietary Ingredient? Nutritional Outlook. May 29, 2019. Following the FDA’s revision of its New Dietary Ingredient draft guidance, critics say that the definition of “dietary substance” in the guidance differs too much from the definition of a “dietary ingredient” in 1994’s DSHEA law.

10 Emerging Sustainability Trends in Natural Beauty. New Hope Network. May 24, 2019. During the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, senior executives from the beauty industry emphasized an ongoing commitment to sustainable manufacturing.

‘Botanical Sexism’ Could Be Behind Your Seasonal Allergies. Atlas Obscura. May 17, 2019. Cities are grappling with increasing “pollenpocalypses” that can be attributed to city planners’ favoring of male-only trees in neighborhoods.

Prehistoric Medicine: How Archaic Humans Cured Themselves. Discover. May 10, 2019. Long before the modern scientific framework existed, early humans used natural substances to heal wounds and cure maladies.

Read more Herbal MediaWatch headlines here.

Community And Industry Releases

Americans for Safe Access and Aurelius Data Join Forces to Create a Research Platform to Benefit Cannabis Patients. Americans for Safe Access. June 11, 2019.

Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler Elected Chair of CSPI Board of Directors. Council for Science in the Public Interest. June 10, 2019.

Almost 600 Plants Have Already Gone Extinct - Why Should We Care? Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. June 10, 2019.

Study: Hospice Professionals Overwhelmingly Support Medical Cannabis Access. NORML. June 6, 2019.

Illinois to Become Eleventh State to Legalize Adult Use Marijuana. NORML. June 6, 2019.

Americans for Safe Access Releases Patient’s Guide to CBD. Americans for Safe Access. June 4, 2019.

UNPA Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Hemp Industries Association. United Natural Products Alliance. June 4, 2019.

AHPA President Michael McGuffin Urges FDA to Use Existing Authority to Create Legal Pathway for CBD Products. American Herbal Products Association (AHPA). May 31, 2019.

2019 Medicinal Plant Conservation Award. United Plant Savers. May 23, 2019.

US Increases and Proposes Expansion of Tariffs on Chinese Imports. AHPA. May 20, 2019.

Events

Phytopharm 2019. July 1-3, 2019. Saint Petersburg, Russia.

NBJ Summit. July 15-18, 2019. Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

The Spirit of Ireland. August 1-7, 2019. Ireland.

67th International Congress and Annual Meeting of the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Products Research. September 1-5, 2019. Innsbruck, Austria.

SupplySide West. October 15-19, 2019. Las Vegas, Nevada.

6th World Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. November 13-17, 2019. Famagusta, Northern Cyprus.

More event listings can be found on ABC’s website.

Herbal IQ

Relationships are complicated. When are spiders a help and when are they a hindrance to flowering plants? Find out here!