Classification and application scope of plant extracts

Plant extracts refer to substances extracted or processed from plants (all or part of plants) with appropriate solvents or methods. They can be used in pharmaceutical industry, food industry, daily chemical industry and other industries.

Classification of plant extracts:

1. According to the content of active ingredients, it can be divided into three kinds: effective monomer extract, standard extract and proportional extract;

2. It can be divided into glycosides, acids, polyphenols, polysaccharides, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, etc;

3. According to the product form, it can be divided into vegetable oil, extract, powder, etc.

4.Plant extracts can be divided into natural pigment products and plant extracts according to their uses.

Now plant extracts are widely used. In addition to traditional Chinese medicine products, with people's increasing trust and dependence on natural products, a large part of plant extracts are used in health products and food ingredients. In addition, plant extracts have also been used in cosmetics and feed in recent years.

Some of the world's best-selling plant extracts come in a variety of classifications. For example, Rhodiola, Ginkgo biloba and Ginseng extracts are used in fields such as brain building, intelligence enhancement and prevention of senile dementia; Green tea, fructus aurantii,apple, balsam pear polypeptide extracts, etc. are used to reduce weight, reduce blood sugar, and prevent diabetes; Taxol, tea polyphenols, theanine, bioflavonoids, such as lycopene, anthocyanins, etc. are used in the field of natural anti-cancer; Glycyrrhiza, garlic, astragalus and soybean extracts are used in the field of human immune system. Among them, plant essential oil is an oily liquid with aroma and volatility. They are a mixture of various compounds. They are physiologically active and have a variety of medical effects such as relieving cough, relieving asthma, sweating, smoothing the surface, eliminating phlegm, and expelling wind The medicinal plants with rich volatile oil content include Platycladus orientalis, Magnolia officinalis, Magnolia magnolia, Cinnamomum camphora, Evodia rutaecarpa, Angelica dahurica, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Angelica sinensis and mint. Medium.

Based on the legislative scope, concept and use of various countries, the concept of plant extract can be accepted and recognized by various countries, and it is also a common expression of herbal medicine in various countries. As early as 1999, the export of plant extracts in China exceeded that of Chinese patent medicines. In European and American countries, plant extracts and their products (plant drugs or food supplements) have broad market prospects.

In China, plant extracts are generally intermediate products with a wide range of uses.

It is mainly used as raw material or auxiliary material of medicine, health food, tobacco and cosmetics. There are also many kinds of raw plants used for extraction. At present, there are more than 300 varieties of plants entering the industrial extraction.