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From pharmaceutical alternatives to functional food ingredients, the botanical category encompasses a broad array of components used in diverse ways. Regulations and media attention greatly impact the future of individual ingredients.

Many factors impact the success of companies within an industry. When it comes to botanicals, two factors have rocked the use of these ingredients: the media, which strongly influences consumer attitudes; and government intervention.

For example, the January 2001 FDA "Letter to Manufacturers Regarding Botanicals and Other Novel Ingredients in Conventional Foods" discussed the use of non-GRAS ingredients in foods. The letter cooled the growing food use of components with non-GRAS status.

However, the botanical category is broad and contains an eclectic array of products. Some botanicals are clearly pharmaceutical alternatives, some have an ambiguous regulatory status, and some are foods themselves.

Introduced in 2001, GlaxoSmithKline's, Pittsburgh, Penn., Remifemin Menopause, a hormonal replacement therapy alternative, falls into the first category. The product is standardized to 20mg black cohosh extract (a native North American plant, Clmicifuga racemosa). On the other end, rosemary and garlic are used as a food antioxidant and studied as a potential food antimicrobial, respectively, but also are key components in supplements.

Here is a brief overview of five products. A few products cannot represent the botanical category. However, they provide a flavor of trends in this area.

Garlic and Saw Palmetto

A search for garlic-containing products on Mintel's Global New Products Database (GNPD) results in "a cast of thousands' due to its popularity as a seasoning. When the search is limited to products in the healthcare category, 79 items appear as newly-introduced--globally--in 2000 and 2001. A closer look at these products shows 55 health references were made. Heart and circulation-type claims were most popular, followed by garlic's antimicrobial properties, which extend to its ability to reduce cold and allergy symptoms. For example, Roche Consumer Health, New York, N.Y., developed Avon's VitAdvance branded Heart Health Formula E Dietary Supplement, which contains garlic to help retain normal blood cholesterol levels.

Past promotional claims attached to garlic range from benefits for skin, gall bladder and joint health, to the ability to combat worms, (in pets, one assumes).