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32D April 2017 Tablets & Capsules going to influence drug metabolism of common prescription medications, that has to be known in advance." He noted that St. John's wort, a nutraceutical used to treat mild depression, reduces the effectiveness of beta blockers and statins. Folk of the University of Missouri said that even botan- icals that have been used for centuries should be assessed for safety and possible negative interactions. Because they have only recently been used in combination with modern medicines, the mixtures may be dangerous. He and his colleagues are studying Sutherlandia, a botanical native to southern Africa purported to boost the immune system and prevent infection. "As a result of our clinical trials with Sutherlandia, we discovered that this plant and per- haps other medicinal plants may interfere with a tubercu- losis treatment used worldwide," Folk said. "About a third of the world's population is latently infected with tubercu- losis and are at risk for active infection, so it's a huge con- cern if a popular dietary supplement makes that treatment less effective." Bridging the gap While dietary supplements have many potential bene- fits, there isn't a lot of money available to determine their true efficacy. Folk noted that the US National Institute of Health's annual budget exceeds $30 billion, while the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, the branch charged with studying botanicals and dietary supplements, is allotted a small fraction of that budget, slightly more than $100 million [1,2]. Nonetheless, he says, "I'm in full support of having a com- petitive process where the strongest work gets funded. It's the only way that good research can advance." Because there isn't much governmental funding, manu- facturers of dietary supplements and pharmaceuticals should invest more, van Breemen said. "Botanical dietary supplements are in some ways a return to the origins of folk medicine, natural botany, and inexpensive accessible medicines that are available to a great many people in the world, especially in Third World populations," he said. "I would like to see nutraceutical businesses invest more in research. I guess the trick for them is they don't want to invest in research that could benefit their competitors." Another problem, Folk said, is technology transfer and information sharing. "A lot of basic research is never acted upon by the public or medical professionals. I'd like to see more contact between the nutraceutical industry, doctors, and researchers to advance public health, but it is a matter of time and each side is tackling a very differ- ent set of problems." Pasinetti said consumers also play a role. "When you want to buy a car, you don't just enter a car dealership and buy the first car you see. Most buyers do extremely detailed research, using the Kelly Blue Book, looking at performance reviews, researching where the cars are made, and if this is indeed the make and model they want. They should spend the same amount of time when buying and checking out nutraceuticals." T&C William Folk is a professor of bio- chemistry at the University of Missouri. "About 15 years ago, I led an NIH-funded international research center that studied Sutherlandia and other botanicals widely used in south- ern Africa." Folk's current work, funded by NIH, focuses on the char- acterization and safety of Devil's claw, a botanical that is widely used as a treatment for muscu- loskeletal pain. "European studies support the health bene- fits of Devil's claw, but there are shortcomings with those studies that our team is addressing in current research." Richard van Breemen is a pro- fessor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). His interest in botanical research was accidental. "Back in the 80s, I set up an analytical lab at North Carolina State University. A couple of my colleagues in food science and botany asked if our high-resolution mass spectrometry tool could help identify the isomers of carotenoids in certain foods and plants." After that suc- cess, he continued to work on natural products and joined UIC, where he helped establish the Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements, the oldest and only continuously funded botanical center. He now serves as its director. Giulio Maria Pasinetti is a profes- sor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine and director of Mount Sinai's Center for Molecular Integrative Neuroresilience, New York, NY. He began researching botanicals when he realized their potential impact on neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's. "About 10 years ago, I thought it would be a great idea to understand the lifestyle factors that may prevent neurodegeneration. You can imagine the complexity of going back 20 years before the onset of disease to try to understand if indeed there was a process and to identify the risk factors, including lifestyle factors, that may have triggered the neurodegenerative process, and then create preventive initiatives—like complex botanical preparations—that target those processes." References 1. NIH What We Do: Budget. Online. Accessed March 16, 2017. 2. NCCIH Funding: Appropriations History. Online. Accessed March 16, 2017. Center for Molecular Integrative Neuroresilience, New York, NY. Tel. 212 241 5563 Website: www.icahn.mssm.edu UIC Botanical Center, Chicago, IL. Tel. 312 996 4960 www.pharmacy.uic.edu Center for Botanical Interaction Studies, Columbia, MO. Tel. 573 884 9770 www.mizzouadvantage.missori.edu