Date:09/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/09/stories/2007030909880200.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

"Nutraceuticals is pharma's future"

Staff Reporter

US college dean conducting studies in food supplements

VIJAYAWADA : Nutraceuticals (foods having medicinal effects) are becoming very important in the United States of America and the field which is being seen as the future by many pharma firms has burgeoned into a multi-billion dollar business, according to University of Houston, College of Pharmacy dean Sunny E. Ohia.

Professor Ohia was here in connection with safety studies he was conducting on a novel natural extract of negative hydroxycitric acid, a nutraceutical food supplement used in weight management.

Nutraceuticals is a portmanteau of words `nutrition' and `pharmaceuticals'. These substances not only form supplementary diet, but also aid in the prevention and/or cure of disease.

For example red wine had the nutraceutical called Resveratrol, which acted as an anti-oxidant and an anticholesteremic (reduces the cholesterol levels in the blood).

`Kokum Sharbath'

Prof. Ohia said the negative hydroxycitric Acid can be extracted from a substance used as `Kokum Sharbath' in Karnataka and is commercially called Super Citrimax. Causes loss of appetite and acted as an effective weight management supplement. He said that India with a vast store of ethno-botanical knowledge could make a tremendous contribution to the field of nutraceuticals.

Prof. Ohia said the University of Houston Pharmacy College was part of the Texas Medical Centre, a conglomerate of over 50 health related institutions, one of the world's largest.

The Pharmacy College was doing cutting edge research by developing and studying drugs for the treatment of AIDS/HIV, cardio-vascular, renal, neurological and infectious diseases. He is a Nigerian who studied in Scotland and the United Kingdom and has been working in the United States for the past two decades.