Vitamins have hogged the modern alternative medicine limelight and health shop shelves in the West. Minerals have also played a supporting role in the nutritional supplements boom. Now, Hong Kong consumers are increasingly turning their attention to Western-packaged herbs and herbal remedies in the ongoing quest for optimum health. 'We get new queries all the time,' says Anna Chen, owner of the Health Gate health food store in Central. Already familiar with the common and garden herbs, such as peppermint and camomile, which have long been herbal tea staples, local consumers are becoming familiar with names like milk thistle, echinacea, liquorice root, devil's claw and St John's Wort. Another up-and-coming herb on the list is horse chestnut seed, which is believed by some to help maintain circulation. But what do these herbs do apart from add exotic names to dinner-table repartee? Milk thistle, said to be one of the most ancient known medicines, has at various times been used to treat gallstones, liver disorders, gall bladder and spleen problems and other ailments, according to Dr Daniel Mowrey's Herbal Tonic Therapies. It has a beneficial impact on the digestive system, appears to protect and heal the liver while in trendy circles it has become known as a great antidote to too much alcohol at too many parties. Another talking point on the herb circuit is echinacea, most famous for boosting the immune system. American Indians are credited with discovering echinacea, and it was subsequently used to treat everything from typhoid, malaria, meningitis, severe boils, insect bites, cholera and cancer. Today, it is the choice of those coming down with colds and flu. Devil's claw, another herb on the hot list, is mentioned in the same alternative medicine breath as arthritis and rheumatism and various inflammatory diseases. Originally from South Africa, the plant is also used for gastro-intestinal problems. And liquorice root, carries two treatment hats - as an immune system booster and for its positive impact on the female reproductive system. It is sometimes said to be among the top three herbs in the world for its curative properties. Its name pops up in connection with everything from stomach ailments and skin problems, to fighting high cholesterol and asthma. A word of warning: eating too much candy which contains real liquorice extract can send the body's liquorice extract levels into orbit and cause health problems, according to various herb literature. As with most things, uncontrolled or excessive use of herbs is not the wisest way to ride the trend. The tide towards healthy herbal answers continues to swell, fuelled perhaps by consumers spooked by drug-resistant antibiotics and media reports about evil viruses and life-sapping oxidants. Matthew Cheng, owner of Healing Plants Too in Lyndhurst Terrace, is seeing increased interest in the herb buffet he launched at the end of last year. 'Quite a lot of people come for remedies for a few things - relaxation and elimination or constipation,' he says. He attributes much of the latest curiosity about non-Chinese herbs to their increasing availability. While Chinese herbs enjoy widespread and growing popularity around the world, 'herbs like this have never been available in Hong Kong', Mr Cheng says. 'Most of those that you can buy here are Chinese herbs.' Healing Plants carries between 30 and 40 herbs, the most popular being St John's Wort, skullcap, camomile, and senna. The most common way to take herbs - healing and otherwise - is in hot drinks. These teas or infusions are increasingly turning from mere comfort to medicinal. Both Health Gate and Healing Plants have growing ranges of teas that promise everything from cholesterol reduction to hormonal balance. Along with the existing range of herbal teas, including herbs such as raspberry leaf which 'tempers the effect of natural feminine changes', Mr Chen is introducing another brand of infusions at Health Gate. The newest name in herbal teas, which will be available in Hong Kong in the next few months, are being prescribed for ailments ranging from asthma and bronchial problems to aches, pains and weight loss. There is also a concoction to relieve stress, one to improve digestion and another to treat arthritis. All are smartly packaged using slick 21st century marketing tricks, including clever packaging, sharp targeting and tapping into the growing global consciousness about health and earth matters. Vanity plays a part in convincing consumers that herbs are beneficial. If adverts can be believed, horse chestnut seed is the magic ingredient to 'great legs from the inside out' - surely one of the best selling points ever in a society which idolises the long and leggy. The US makers of one of the products which include horse chestnut seed extract, promise that the herbal extract in their new Venastat capsules 'is clinically shown to help maintain circulation in the legs'. But they acknowledge, in fine print, that their claims have not been verified by the US Food and Drug Administration. Other books recommend a herb called Butcher's Broom to treat 'heavy leg syndrome'. On a more earthy level, there are those herbal products that treat the decidedly unglamorous - such as boils and burns. Indeed, traditional herbalists point out that, in their latest interest in herbs and their health uses, people are simply following what the ancients knew all along and which modern societies have ignored at great cost. Yet the open-minded attitudes which combine traditional herbal uses with orthodox modern medicine may be the best legacy of this latest trend. In the words of the modern packaging of a new range of traditional herbal potions to be sold in Hong Kong: 'For every disease we know, God allows a herb to grow.'
