Treasures Hunt in Old Mines: Terminalia chebula-Based Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products

Traditional herbal medicinal products (THMPs) have served as a source of medicines as well as disease-preventive products; consequently, they became the major source of molecular medicines. Roughly 65% of the drugs in the current arsenal are based on natural products or derived from natural products. THMPs are regaining immense popularity in maintaining discovery of new drugs to cope with the challenges of sustaining drug efficacies and countering the emergence of drug resistance. Natural products are the main source for novel skeletons and drug candidate leads. Terminalia chebula, a plant habitant of sub- Himalaya region, is effectively being used against several diseases with no major reported side effects. Our Sci-Finder (CAS) literature search has shown ~2000 research reports on this single specie and ~74 THMPs based on T. chebula alone or in combination with other medicinal herbs. This review provides relevant knowledge covering these 74 THMPs derived from this miraculous cure, i.e. T. chebula and its major nature engineered bioactive chemical constituents. This is expected to make a meaningful contribution, especially: 1) Standardization, dosage and safety studies of these 74 THMPs of T. chebula; 2) its promising role in discovery of new, effective, novel and safer molecular drugs. T. chebula is a rich source of a variety of novel natural products, especially, its abundance in a wide range of tannins could be very important in modulating several biological disorders. T. chebula-derived THMPs are economical and are vastly being used throughout the world. It is important that their use, efficacy and side effects should be studied and documented properly to enhance the efficacy and reduce the adverse effects.