Lei Jufang: Add medicinal herbs with both food and medicinal properties to the catalog of the health food filing system.

　　The “medicine and food share the same origin” culture is an important component of the outstanding traditional culture of the Chinese nation. Throughout history, renowned physicians and health experts have advocated that “dietary therapy is better than medicinal treatment” and “nutritional supplementation through food is superior to pharmacological supplementation.” They highly推崇 dietary therapy using medicinal foods—adopting gentle approaches to regulate the body—and have, in practice, developed hundreds of thousands of dietary prescriptions and nutritional remedies. Many Chinese medicinal herbs that embody the “medicine and food share the same origin” principle serve both as prescription ingredients and as everyday foods. By employing “dietary therapy,” one can not only savor delicious cuisine but also nourish the body, promote health, prevent illness, and treat disease—all highlighting the unique advantages of the “medicine and food share the same origin” approach in traditional Chinese medicine’s health preservation and wellness practices. This approach complements and enriches the strengths of modern Western health-care philosophies.

　　From June 1, 1996, to the end of 2015, among the health food products approved in China, a significant proportion—42.93%, 46.55%, and 35.79% respectively—were made by appropriately adding auxiliary ingredients to single varieties of “medicinal-food homology” herbs. For example, propolis, grape seed extract, and ginkgo leaf extract accounted for these proportions. From 2016 to 2015, over the course of ten years, China registered a total of 6,308 health food products. The top ten raw materials used from “medicinal-food homology” herbs were goji berries, ganoderma lucidum, American ginseng, astragalus membranaceus, propolis, panax ginseng, kudzu root, poria cocos, epimedium, and rhodiola rosea. These figures demonstrate that “medicinal-food homology” herbs possess advantages in terms of safety and health-promoting functions, and are irreplaceable as raw materials for health foods.

　　Currently, the state is strongly supporting the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In February 2016, the State Council issued the "Outline of the Development Strategy for TCM (2016-2030)," encouraging TCM institutions to fully leverage modern scientific and technological advances—including biotechnology, bionics, and intelligent technologies—to develop a range of health foods, health products, and health-care devices and services. In October 2016, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly released the "Healthy China 2030" Outline, which sets forth the goal of fully harnessing TCM's leading role in preventing diseases before they occur, its synergistic role in treating major illnesses, and its pivotal role in disease rehabilitation by 2030. In December 2016, the National People's Congress promulgated the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Traditional Chinese Medicine," clearly defining the state's direction for developing TCM-based health and wellness services. The law also relaxed requirements for both the approval of drug registration numbers and the preparation and use of compound Chinese medicinal formulations derived from time-honored classic prescriptions in medical institutions. Furthermore, the regulations governing the filing of health foods should likewise be referenced and implemented accordingly.

　　The introduction of the aforementioned policy recommendations further promotes the important role that “medicinal and food homology” herbs play in public health. Relevant practitioners are eagerly anticipating that the registration and filing system for health products will bring new changes and opportunities to the industry’s development.

　　Against this backdrop, on July 1, 2016, the "Administrative Measures for the Registration and Filing of Health Food Products" were officially implemented, shifting the management model for bringing health food products to market from the previous single-registration system to a combined registration-and-filing approach. These measures have streamlined the approval process, shortened the approval cycle, and reduced the cost of application submissions, thereby fostering the development of the greater health industry.

　　On January 12, 2017, the National Medical Products Administration, together with the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, formulated and officially released the “Catalogue of Raw Materials for Health Food (I)” and the “Catalogue of Health Functions Permitted for Health Food Claims (I)”. These catalogues will come into effect on May 1, 2017.

　　We found that the current catalog of health food registration under the filing system features a limited range of ingredients and an overly narrow scope of application. In the “Catalog of Health Food Ingredients (I),” the primary entries are nutritional supplement ingredients, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. Similarly, in the “Catalog of Health Functions Permitted for Health Food Claims (I),” only health functions related to vitamin and mineral supplementation are currently listed. The ingredients registered in these catalogs are predominantly concentrated on nutritional supplements, vitamins, and minerals—akin to the health-care practices in Western countries, which focus on supplementing the body with vitamins and minerals. However, medicinal herbs embodying the precious essence of traditional Chinese health preservation—the concept of “food as medicine”—are conspicuously absent from this catalog. This existing catalog is not conducive to transforming Chinese medicine, with its unique resource advantages and distinctive health benefits, into health products that effectively meet the public’s health needs. Moreover, it will likely lead to severe product homogenization in the future health-food market, making it difficult to ensure product quality and hindering the healthy development of the industry.

　　In light of this, we believe that “medicinal and food substances with the same origin” have undergone long-term consumption and scientific evaluation, demonstrating that they meet the requirements for health-food registration in terms of safety and usage guidelines. It is urgently necessary to add these “medicinal and food substances with the same origin” to the relevant catalog, so as to fully harness the important role of traditional Chinese medicine in preventing diseases before they occur, intervening and adjusting health conditions, and promoting the health of the Chinese nation.

　　(Lei Jufang, Member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chairwoman of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine)

　　Reporting media: NetEase Finance

　　Report link: http://money.163.com/17/0303/14/CEK3681E00258IDE.html