Zone4. Back to traditional wisdom for healthy lifestyle
Generally, herbs have a variety of uses, including medicine, culinary, and are also found in supermarkets as a dietary supplement or cosmetic product. Another application is agricultural products in terms of crop farming and animal production. Patients can use the herbs for balancing and regulating the body together with modern medicine treatment. Moreover, healthy people can use the herbs to maintain or improve their health. There are several types of herbal products in Thailand, such as pieces, tablets, liquid, with various trade names and are easy to buy. Therefore, consumers must read the label before purchase in order to get the right and safety product. In Drug act 1967, Thai traditional medicine is grouped into crude herbal preparation, traditional medicine and nonprescription traditional medicine.
Crude herbal preparations
Crude herbal preparation consists of many kinds of chopped crude drugs. Patients can buy them from traditional drugstore under supervision of Thai traditional practitioner or pharmacist and take home to boil or ferment to herbal liquor as recommended.
Traditional medicine
It includes herbal formulations that traditional healers use to treat illness. Traditional medicine comprise those marking in the national formulary and are appointed by Minister of Public Health or those are registered and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The traditional medicine must be sold in traditional or modern drugstores and hospital.
Nonprescription traditional medicine
The Ministry of Public Health appoints 24 formulations of nonprescription traditional medicine, such as Yahom Navagot. Thai traditional recipes containing herbs for treatment of specific symptoms, such as ginger, galangal and lemon grass for flatulence are also classified in this category. The nonprescription traditional medicine must be registered and approved by the Food and Drug Administration before production and can be sold freely in the market.
Dietary supplements
In Thailand, dietary supplements are products for healthy people, taken orally to supplement their diet and are considered as food. Some countries may classify them as medicine. The Ministry of Public Health appoints some herbal products as dietary supplements, such as garlic, ginger and Asiatic pennywort. The label cannot claim any properties because it is not medicine.
Carefully read before buying
1 Product name, 2 Registration Number, 3 Special labeling (Traditional medicine), 4 Name of Active Ingredient(s), 5 Batch or Lot number, 6 Manufacturing date, 7 Expiration date, 8 Name and address of manufacturer, 9 Indication, 10 Recommended Dose, 11 Warning, 12 Pack sizes.