Traditional Chinese medicine in China for a long time, but it is difficult to get out of China, even many Chinese people do not believe in it. Is Chinese traditional medicine to have no effect? In fact, it is not, is a lot of times we do not know why it works, the unknown is the existence of doubt.Plant extracts are the same, now many plant extracts do not know what they extracted, and how to talk about the efficacy, how to convince people? Another reason is that we have a large number and variety of plant extracts, Many are common in our lives, such as purslane, green tea, ginger, because it is too common, we have no fresh feeling, mention of plant mention everyone’s feeling is ordinary, not high-end, no sense of science and technology, lack of innovation.
In fact, there is such a phenomenon when we look at some popular science literature, “Certain products contain 20% bose because of anti-aging effect is outstanding, 5% VC has excellent antioxidant effects, 5D hyaluronic acid helps with deep hydration, and some plant extracts ” As if our extract is a little transparent without any effect.
Are plant extracts really useless? “No!” Just like Centella asiatica, we all know that it is anti-inflammatory, soothing effect is very good, know that there are Asiaticoside, Asiatic glycoside, hydroxycentella, etc. What are we questioning when we question plant extracts? If we split the plant extract, it is divided into plant and extract two parts, the first is the plant like ginseng, astragalus are proven effective drugs, so the plant itself is not need to question. As for the extract, what exactly was extracted? How much was extracted? Is it stable? That’s what we really question.
The plant extract is like soaking tea with water, putting the plant into some solvent, usually some alcohols, such as butanediol. Soak it in, boil it, and it is a pot of plant extracts. You can have whatever you want. No one is going to explore what can be made.
There are about five traditional extraction techniques:
- Traditional extraction technology (decocting method): a method that has been used by Chinese people for thousands of years, including cooking and soup.
- Maceration: Use of water or other solvents in plants that break down easily when added. This should be similar to making tea.
- Percolation: The medicine is packed in a bucket, the liquid above goes in, the flow rate is controlled, and comes out below. Through the percolation process, will produce a concentration gradient, extraction is complete, and some sensitive components also have a better extraction.
- Steam distillation: also a traditional method, in the past the process of making wine is actually using the principle of steam distillation.
- Water diffusion steam distillation: the extraction of essential oils have a very good effect.
Plant extraction industry rapid discovery, but the pace of development still can not keep up with the changes in the industry. People began to dislike the plant mention is not scientific, not effective, not fresh enough. But nothing is set in stone, and plant extraction is growing, and here are the advances in plant extraction:
- Supercritical extraction technology
Supercritical extraction relies mainly on supercritical fluid, which is a state between gas and liquid that is neither gaseous nor liquid. The substance can exist only when the temperature and pressure exceed the critical point. The solvent strength depends on the temperature and pressure of extraction. Using this characteristic, the different components in the plant can be extracted successively by changing the pressure and temperature of the extractant fluid. Therefore, different extraction components can be obtained by supercritical fluid extraction under programmed pressure, and the separation can also be achieved.
For example, Ashland’s patchouli extract uses a supercritical fluid extraction method, first drying the leaves, Grinding, and then use supercritical extraction method to extract the polar part (phytosterols, fatty acids, polyphenols, etc.) and the non-polar parts (active oil), so that it can be extracted and separated, the active substances will be separated separately. The use of supercritical extraction can not only improve the extraction efficiency, and the price of CO2 is cheaper, the cost is lower, but the extraction process does not need to use organic solvents, so the extract has no residual solvent substances, reduce the possibility of stimulating. By using patchouli extract, which contains high levels of CB2 receptor activator, activate the CB2 receptors in the skin to help stabilize the skin, control inflammation and resolve sensitive skin. Acne and other problems. - High pressure and high shear technology
This high pressure and high shear technology from the United States Biocogent company, is one of their proprietary platform technology. The traditional plant extraction process is generally mechanical crushing, solvent extraction and other ways, this process to a certain extent, the plant contains some soluble components in the extraction solvent, and a small number of active components in plant cells. The traditional plant extraction process of active ingredients is not complete, inadequate, many important active ingredients are left behind or filter, so greatly reduced the efficacy of plant extracts. The high pressure and high shear technology is applied at 40000psi (about 275.8 MPa, about 2722 standard atmospheres) pressure and 500m / s flow velocity (supersonic), The whole plant cell is broken by high pressure and high shear, and the components in the cell membrane including cytoplasm and organelles are released. All the hydrophilic and lipophilic active components in plant cells can be obtained completely by this process, so it is a real plant active component extraction. - PlantMilking technology
The PlantMilking technology is inspired by the aero technique of plant cultivation, Different from the traditional planting method and hydroponic method, our traditional method of planting plants will be affected by the environment, land, rain water, light will affect the metabolism of the plant. PlantMilking technology by the way of the nutrient solution atomization, let the plant roots to take root in the air, and through targeted chemical stimulation enrichment of rare active ingredients, can be obtained in traditional plants with very low content of precious ingredients. Directional culture is not affected by the environment, the final extract has high active substance content, good batch stability, and strong product traceability. - Genuine medicinal materials
In addition to different techniques, geography has a great influence on plant growth and enrichment of active ingredients. There is a traditional Chinese medicine in China, which is called genuine medicine. It refers to the traditional Chinese medicine which is selected by long-term clinical application, produced in a specific region, compared with other regions of the same kind of Chinese medicinal materials, the quality and efficacy are better, and the quality is stable, and has a high reputation. China has a vast land, complex topography and diverse climatic conditions. Different areas of topography, soil, climate and other conditions, the formation of different genuine medicinal materials. Under the unique environment, the species formed its own characteristics and growth and reproduction habits. And once the environment changes, some characteristics of the plant will change, plant internal metabolism will also change, like we often say that orange born in Huaibei is orange born for Trifoliate. For plant extracts, the final active ingredients of plants from different regions are also very different. For example, we have been exploring genuine materia medica in recent years. The team went to the Sichuan-Tibet region to graduate students at an altitude of 4 or 5 kilometers. After cold, exposure, thin air, cast from the big flower Rhodiola, but also cast also affordable herbal trump product Rhododendron essence.
In fact, the efficacy of China plant extracts, safety, science and technology has been progressing, we should have more confidence in it.