Standing in front of a map showing the distribution of sources of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) across mainland China, James Yang, the tall and slender director of research and development at Formosa Kingstone Bioproducts, describes in a steady flow the special characteristics of CHM raw materials produced from Xinjiang all the way to Fujian Province.

When Yang made his first trip to mainland China in 1989, he never expected that CHM would become the professional preoccupation of the rest of his life. Traveling only to see the scenery, he incidentally discovered that major pharmaceuticals manufacturers from around the world had set up shop in the PRC, hoping to find buried treasure. That's when he decided to go into the business of gathering, inspecting, and trading raw materials for CHM, and even cultivating basic sources of botanical pharmaceuticals. Beginning his research with the problem, "What are the differences between the ginseng described in the Compendium of Materia Medica 500 years ago and the ginseng we use today," he found that this world of "herb roots and tree bark" is one of vast learning.

The amazing shrinking powder

In order to move away from the traditional processing and preparation methods and to put CHM on a more scientific and modern foundation, in 1997 Kingstone began investing in research into creating CHM in "super-micro powder" (SMP) form. Using their patented production process, Kingstone can now mass-produce more than 100 varieties of CHM in SMP form, marking a considerable return on their efforts.

So does this mean that Kingstone has, as they imply, achieved the "nano" level? James Yang confesses that they have taken some literary license in employing the term "nanotechnology."

"Generally speaking," explains Yang, "when people talk about nanotechnology they are referring to the manipulation of non-biological materials (such as inorganic metals and minerals) at the molecular level in order to produce changes in the physical or chemical properties of these materials." But the situation is different for biological materials that are to be ingested or applied to the skin, for which first priority must be given to their stability and safety.

Even more important, says Yang, getting to the crux of the issue, is that "the units of natural bioproducts, cells, are alive." The composition of cells is far more complex than most people can imagine, as shown by the fact, for example, that you can leave a piece of Dioscoria (Chinese yam) root just laying around for three years and it will still produce buds. Further, cells are roughly between 100 nanometers and one micron (1000 nanometers). If one were to insist on grinding these materials down to meet the "nano" threshold of less than 100 nanometers, the cells would die, and they would lose their therapeutic effect.

Yang takes ground pearl as a case in point. A full 97.5% of pearl is calcium carbonate, which has no therapeutic value. Only 2.5% is composed of medicinally useful amino acid. Yang once decided to grind pearl down to nano levels, and discovered that he had destroyed the amino acid, releasing a foul odor and ruining the raw material.

In order to bring CHM to the level of being "small, but not too small," Yang followed the approach adopted in Japan. There, the lower limit of refinement is deemed to be the point at which the cell is destroyed, when the membrane and the cell wall are broken through. Recently Kingstone produced a batch of powdered Chinese caterpillar fungus in which the diameter of 98% of the granules was around 2.5 microns. Tests showed that the granules still had quite good therapeutic effects.

The final frontier

Since there is the risk of destroying the cells, why even bother to try to refine CHM to the sub-micron level? The reason is simple: "Because plants do not grow for us to eat them." The cell structure of most biological materials is very durable, and not easily broken down. Therefore it is difficult for the matter inside to be released, much less absorbed into the human body.

Take lingzhi for example. Lingzhi is a type of fungus, and the spores it contains have an extremely strong double-layer outer shell. In Japan, it was only after researchers used special techniques to break open the spore shells that they discovered substances inside the spores with anticancer properties.

Further, CHM still gives most people the impression of being "awkward and messy," often requiring complex cooking and concocting to prepare it for use. Thus the problem is how to extract the properties from the "herb roots and tree bark" so that they are easy to absorb. With refinement, dosages of CHM can be greatly reduced even as efficacy is increased.

Refined CHM can be used not only in pharmaceuticals, but also as food additives. James Yang says that because safety review processes for medicines in other countries are long and complex, for the moment Kingstone is focusing on the burgeoning health food market, with products like "ginseng noodles." In the past, since manufacturers were unable to refine additives, these would break the links between the flour molecules, so that the noodles would fall apart as soon as they were cooked. But with refinement technology, this problem can be easily overcome.

That's not all. The applications for refined CHM can be extended considerably. Already a number of manufacturers in Taiwan are adding raw materials from Kingstone to all kinds of products, including yogurt and ice cream. These raw materials can also be put to use in natural colorings and flavorings, edible fibers, cosmetic masks, bandages, and more. These uses are already common overseas, with the production value of such products increasing year in and year out, but in Taiwan there is still vast room for R&D and promotion.

Although we are not really talking about "nano" level here, as with other miniaturized materials, the refinement of CHM to near nano-scale can spark industrial upgrading. Our ancestors have left us the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine; whether it can be more widely employed through new technologies now depends on us.

p.028

Jars of Chinese herbal medicine capsules made using "super-micro powders" are the crystallization of the ambitions of James Yang of Formosa Kingstone Bioproducts. (photo by Jimmy Lin)