The market for herbals is gaining momentum worldover. With every four out of ten in the US go for food supplements and alternative medicine, the market for herb-based products is huge and is expected to touch 4-5 trillion by the next decade. Currently herbals enjoy around a 20 billion market in the US. The market is growing rapidly in the EU countries as well as it is poised to touch about 4 billion soon.

The herbal products are mostly sourced from China and India. But compared to China, India holds only one per cent of the global herbal market. According to available figures China's sales of herbal products is in the range of Rs. 25000 crore, whereas the sale of Indian herbal products was roughly Rs. 500 crore.

Since the Indian sub-continent houses one of the world's richest flora comprising enormous variety of plant species, the country's export potential, which is currently valued at Rs 350-500 crore, is estimated to grow at the level of Rs 10,000 crore by the year 2010.

Dabur, Himalaya, Baidyanath, Vicco, Dhoot Pappeswar, Zandu, Aryavaidya Sala, Kotakkal are a few of the leading exporters of Indian herbal products. Many other companies like Lupin Ltd, Hindustan Lever etc are diversifying into herbals products divisions.

Despite all the strengths, times seem a bit tough for Ayurveda. This age-old system of medicine is currently faced with many a challenge from within as well as outside. While it is a matter of survival meeting the new regulatory standards for a clutch of traditional drug makers in the home turf, the thousands of years old, time-tested ayurveda encounters the question of scientific proof for global acceptability.

The question of quality standards for ayurvedic medication has been debated out for sometime now. Though there has been a general consensus on the need for strict adherence to good manufacturing practices to ensure consistency and quality, the traditionalists continue to believe that such modern practices could belie the fundamental principles of the vedic medicine.

Standardisation is considered a major hurdle for the smooth popularization of ayurvedic products in the west. There is hardly any standardized formulation available in the western markets. The US and EU countries look at safety and efficacy of the product as paramount importance. Therefore, standardization involves explaining quality and safety profile of the ingredient with scientific language which they are familiar with.

The western mind is a bit sceptical about the fundamental principles of the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM) as they ``lack the scientific proof'' which they require for acceptability. ``When countries like China went ahead convincing the western world about fundamental aspects of their traditional systems of medicine, we stood aside. We are yet to develop a scientific explanation for the Indian system of medicine,''says Dr D Ramanathan, General Secretary, Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisation of India (AMMOI).

So far, we were not able prove the principle of Vata-Pita-Kapha in a suitable way to the western world because there hardly had been any thorough research to evaluate these principles in modern terms. This important aspect is being heavily ignored as companies and research institutions go for neutraceutical/cosmeceutical products that can rake in a quick buck.

However, there are efforts like CARE - Keralam, the proposed global standard quality control and R&D facility for Ayurveda in Kerala with industry-Government participation. If we succeed to prove our Vata-Pitta-Kapha principle to the West like the Chinese who explained the yin-yang, there will definitely arise a huge demand for prescription medicines, avers Dr Ramanathan.

Controversies on the heavy metal contents in the OTC promoted Indian food supplements will continue to haunt till we are able to prove how our traditional methods of purification detoxifies all possible harmful effects of a metal or mineral, suggest experts.

It has been proved beyond doubt that proper processing of mineral products can guarantee their safety and efficacy but we need to evolve proper quality control methods to establish clinical efficacy in scientific form, explains Dr RT Sane, principal, S P Mandali's Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai.

"In one of our scientific theses we have generated enough data to prove that mercury when purified through traditional process becomes 100 times less toxic than the normal one," claims Dr Sane. But he cautions the dangers of tending to resort to short-cuts in large scale commercial production.

There has to be a perfect synergy between the industry and research institutions to aid studies towards this direction. First, the research centres should gain confidence from the industry, opines the head of Ruia College, which has research associations with a number of companies from India and overseas.

Institutions should ideally focus on limited number of herbo-mineral products and explore them exhaustively other than going for each and everything, he recommends.

Since there is no dearth of scientific expertise in the country, the task can be easily divided among, with adequate support from the industry and government.

"It's huge task. But the rewards are also extremely huge'' he explains. There is enormous potential in our traditional systems of medicines. The scope of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) medicines extend far beyond providing solutions for modern day ailments and unaddressed medical conditions to the overall well-being of mankind in general. Naturally, there awaits a world of opportunities up for the grab. "All we need is concerted and combined effort..why don't we come forward together and do it?" exhorts Dr Sane.