A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON STANDARDIZATION OF HERBAL DRUGS

In recent years more people throughout world are turning to use medicinal plant products in healthcare system. Worldwide need of alternative medicine has resulted in growth of natural product markets and interest in traditional systems of medicine. Proper integration of modern scientific techniques and traditional knowledge is important. There is a growing focus on the importance of medicinal plants in the traditional health care system (viz. Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy, Yoga) in solving health care problems. Systematic approach and well-designed methodologies for the standardization of herbal raw materials and herbal formulations are developed. The stability testing of herbal products check the quality of herbal products which varies with the time under the influence of environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, light, oxygen, moisture, other ingredient or excipient in the dosage form, particle size of drug, microbial contamination, trace metal contamination, leaching from the container, etc. and also provide statistics for the determination of shelf lives. Therefore evaluation of the parameters based upon chemical, physical, microbiological, therapeutic and toxicological studies can serve as an important tool in stability studies. Standardization of herbal drugs means confirmation of its identity, Quality and purity. The present overview covers the standardization parameters with their standards value of the some herbal drugs.