In the current era, with the prevalence of the concept of "Great Health" and green consumption, plant extracts, with their natural and multi - functional characteristics, have rapidly emerged in many fields such as food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, becoming a new hot spot in industry development. They are used to add unique flavors and nutrition to food, promote natural skincare in cosmetics, and explore new treatment approaches in pharmaceutical research. However, behind this seemingly promising prospect, there are many pain points in the application process of plant extracts in products. These problems not only restrict the further development of the plant extract industry but also affect the quality of related products and the consumer experience. Therefore, it is of great significance to deeply analyze these pain points and explore feasible solutions for promoting the sustainable development of the plant extract industry.
I. Chaos in Specifications and Ingredients: Market Disorder Amidst the Lack of Standards
The scope of plant extracts is extremely wide. According to the complexity of extraction processes and differences in ingredient content, they are mainly divided into two categories: crude extracts and refined extracts. Crude extracts usually only go through simple extraction operations, retaining many chemical components in plants, with a relatively complex composition. Refined extracts, on the other hand, are obtained through multiple sophisticated processes and repeated separation and purification, with a relatively high content of a single component. For example, ginkgo biloba crude extract may contain various components such as flavonoids, terpene lactones, and phenolic acids, and the proportion and content of these components can vary greatly depending on extraction raw materials and process conditions. While high - purity ginkgo biloba extracts, such as those with a requirement of 24% ginkgo flavone glycosides and 6% terpene lactones, have relatively clear and stable components.
In industries such as food and beverages and cosmetics, accurately labeling the ingredient content of plant extracts is of great importance. However, the reality is not satisfactory. In the food and beverage field, plant extracts are mostly used to improve the color, aroma, and taste of products, and the evaluation of related indicators and the determination of dosage lack precise scientific basis. For example, in a fruit juice beverage added with blueberry extract, R & D personnel often can only estimate the impact of blueberry extract on color and flavor based on experience and simple formulas, and it is difficult to precisely quantify.
In the ingredient detection process, the overall industry level is uneven. Many small and medium - sized extract enterprises, limited by detection equipment and technical capabilities, mostly use the UV method to determine the total content of a certain category of components. Although this method is simple to operate and has a low cost, the test results are easily interfered by other impurity components, and the accuracy is poor. Even some enterprises that use more accurate detection methods such as HPLC have great randomness in the selection of standards. For example, when detecting anthocyanins, the standards selected by different enterprises may differ in structure and purity, resulting in incomparable test results.
The problem of false content labeling is common in the market. Some enterprises exaggerate the content of functional components in plant extracts in order to enhance the competitiveness of their products. Take maca extract as an example. Some products claim to have extremely high contents of macamides and glucosinolates, but the actual test results are far lower than the labeled values. This false - labeling behavior not only misleads consumers but also makes downstream enterprises face difficulties in product research and development and quality control, making it difficult to achieve precise and effective addition of plant extracts.
III. Form Over Substance in Application: Dilemmas in Efficacy Realization
In the cosmetics industry, plant extracts are often promoted as selling points such as "natural, healthy, and low - side - effect". However, a closer look at the ingredient lists of cosmetics reveals that in many products, the components that actually play a role are highly pure monomer components synthesized chemically, and plant extracts are only added in a formal way, becoming a marketing gimmick.
The root cause of this phenomenon lies in the complex composition of plant extracts and the unclear dose - response relationship. For example, in a plant - based skincare product claiming to have a whitening effect, licorice extract is added. However, since licorice extract contains multiple components, including glycyrrhizic acid and licorice flavonoids, it is still unclear which component plays a key role in the whitening process and how these components work together. This makes it difficult for cosmetics R & D personnel to design a product function system, unable to fully utilize the potential efficacy of plant extracts, and they can only rely on chemically synthesized components to ensure product effectiveness.
Facing the numerous dilemmas in the application of plant extracts in products, all sectors of the industry need to work together to explore solutions from multiple dimensions.
It is urgent to establish a unified and authoritative industry standard system. Relevant government departments and industry associations should play a leading role, organizing scientific research institutions, enterprises, and other forces to jointly develop standards covering the entire industrial chain of plant extracts, including raw material selection, extraction process specifications, ingredient detection methods, and quality grading standards. In raw material selection, clearly define requirements such as the types of plants available for extraction, origin, and harvest season to ensure stable raw material quality. Standardize the extraction process, limit the types and dosages of extraction solvents allowed, and control extraction conditions to reduce the impact of process differences on product quality. Unify ingredient detection methods and standards to improve the accuracy and comparability of test results. Through the implementation of standards, strengthen market supervision and severely crack down on illegal production, false labeling, and other behaviors to purify the market environment.
Enterprises should increase R & D investment and improve detection capabilities. On the one hand, introduce advanced detection equipment and technical talents, and establish a complete quality inspection laboratory to achieve accurate detection and monitoring of plant extract components. On the other hand, strengthen industry - university - research cooperation with universities and scientific research institutions, and deeply study the composition, pharmacological activities, and dose - response relationships of plant extracts. For example, through in - depth research, it has been found that EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) in tea extracts has multiple effects such as antioxidant and antibacterial, and the effective dosage range in different application scenarios has been clearly defined. These research results provide a scientific basis for enterprises to accurately apply plant extracts and help develop products with more significant efficacy and more stable quality.
At the application end, such as in cosmetics and food, enterprises should actively explore innovative application models of plant extracts. Cosmetics enterprises can design personalized formula systems based on the characteristics of plant extracts, combined with modern skin science and formulation technology. For example, use micro - encapsulation technology to encapsulate plant extracts to improve their stability and bioavailability; utilize liposome technology to promote the transdermal absorption of effective components of plant extracts and enhance skincare effects. Food enterprises can combine plant extracts with new food ingredients to develop healthy foods with special nutritional functions. For example, combine wolfberry extract with probiotics to make functional foods with the effects of regulating the intestinal flora and enhancing immunity, meeting the diversified needs of consumers for healthy foods.
Although the plant extract industry currently faces many challenges, with the continuous growth of market demand and the continuous advancement of technological innovation, its development prospects remain broad. By solving problems such as chaotic specifications and ingredients, false content labeling, and formalistic application, and achieving a full - chain upgrade from raw material quality improvement to application innovation, plant extracts will surely shine in more fields, contribute more value to people's health and the improvement of life quality, and become an important force in promoting the development of the green industry.
This article was independently created and published by Herbfields.net