@article {1088, title = {Awareness of Natural Herbs{\textquoteright} Effect on Blood Pressure among the Western Region of Saudi Arabia Population: A Cross-Sectional Study}, journal = {Pharmacognosy Research}, volume = {14}, year = {2022}, month = {October 2022}, pages = {461-467}, type = {Original Article}, chapter = {461}, abstract = {

Background: Knowledge of potential interaction between herb-drug is essential to reduce both the risk of serious medical disorders such as life-threatening arrhythmia and uncontrolled blood pressure and the increased healthcare cost, because of treating these complications. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to assess the western Saudi population{\textquoteright}s knowledge of potential interaction between herbal preparations containing Garlic, Ginger, Cinnamon, or Liquorice when concurrently administered with conventional hypotensive therapy. The secondary aim was to explore the source of information about herbal medicine use. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from January 2021 to February 2021 and involved Saudi Arabia{\textquoteright}s population from the western region. The study involved 164 participants by stratified random sampling. Results: The commonly used herbs among the western Saudi population included Garlic (44\%), Ginger (23\%), Cinnamon (13\%), Liquorice (3\%), and others (13\%). Approximately 45.1\% of herb user was based on advice from friends or relatives, 38.4\% were based on online information, and 16.5\% were based on medical resources. Our study showed that 70.7\% of the herb users weren{\textquoteright}t asked by their physicians about using herbal medicine, also 86.6\%\% weren{\textquoteright}t asked by their pharmacists. Conclusion: The study showed a low percentage of awareness of the potential effect of herbal medicines on blood pressure, and their potential interaction with conventional therapies. The study highlighted the low percentage of healthcare providers, who ask their patients about herbal medicine use before prescribing any new medication.

}, keywords = {Cinnamon, Drug interaction, Garlic, Ginger, Herbal medicine, Hypertension, Knowledge, Liquorice, Pharmacist, Physician}, doi = {10.5530/pres.14.4.67}, author = {Afnan Bahha and Aeshah Habib and Awsaf Alluqmani and Afnan Alqurashi and Ahlam Alotaibi and Yosra Al-Hindi and Arwa Fairaq} } @article {325, title = {The Mealiness and Quality of Herbal Medicine: Licorice for Example}, journal = {Pharmacognosy Research}, volume = {9}, year = {2017}, month = {April 2017}, pages = {151-155}, type = {Original Article}, chapter = {151}, abstract = {

Background: The morphological identification is an effective and simple quality evaluation method in Chinese drugs, and the traits of mealiness and color were widely used in the commercial market of Chinese drugs. Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the correlation between mealiness of herbal drugs and its quality; licorice was selected as an example. Materials and Methods: The mealiness of licorice was graded by its weight; meanwhile, the content of glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode-array detection method; the content of polysaccharides, soluble sugars, pectin, total starch, amylose, and amylopectin was measured by colorimetric method; and the number and diameter of starch granule were observed by microscope. Results: The results showed that the mealiness of licorice which collected from wild and cultivated plants is positively correlated with the content of glycyrrhizic acid, liquiritin, the ratio of amylose to total starch, and the number of starch granules whose diameter was over 5 μm. However, the mealiness is negatively correlated with the total starch. Further, the formation mechanism of starch granule was discussed. Conclusion: It is for the first time to report the positive correlation between the mealiness and the starch granule size, the ratio of amylose to total starch, which can provide rationality for the quality evaluation using the character of mealiness in herbal medicine.

}, keywords = {Liquorice, Mealiness, Quality}, doi = {10.4103/0974-8490.204642}, author = {Xueying Liu and Weilong Hou and Deqiang Dou} }