Table 2 Herbal product and herbal medicine definitions at the Bahraini drug regulatory authority (Pharmaceutical Product Classification guideline)

➢ Herbal product “health product containing as active substances, herbal substances or herbal preparations, alone or in combination. It should not carry medicinal indications or make medical claims that are unsuitable for self-diagnosis and self-treatment i.e. without the intervention of a licensed healthcare professional. Any claims made in association with herbal products should be consistent with available evidence regarding the safety and traditional use of those products. A herbal product cannot be sterile, be administered by injection, be subject to a medical prescription, necessitate the intervention of a licensed healthcare professional”

➢ Herbal medicine “any substance or combination of substances presented as having properties for treating or preventing disease in human beings; or any substance or combination of substances which may be used in or administered to human beings either with a view to restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to making a medical diagnosis”

In both definitions:

➢ Herbal substances are referred to as “whole, fragmented or cut plants, plant parts, algae, fungi, lichen in an unprocessed, usually dried form but sometimes fresh. Certain exudates that have not been subjected to a specific treatment are also considered to be herbal substances”

➢ Herbal preparation is “obtained by subjecting herbal substances to treatments such as extraction, distillation, expression, fractionation, purification, concentration or fermentation. These include comminuted or powdered herbal substances, tinctures, extracts, essential oils, expressed juices and processed exudates”