Development of Herbo-Mineral Formulations as Nutritional Supplement for Women

Abstract

The complication and problems of women’s health have existed throughout the all phases of life i.e. childhood to old age. But the nutritional health and its related problems are main causes of women's death. Women are more likely to suffer from nutritional deficiencies than men. About 50% of pregnant women are nutritionally deficient in all over the world and approximately 120 million women are underweight in less developed countries. Due to lack of nutrition, women suffer different types of problems. One of the main issues for women is menstruation, which comes every month. Many formulations such as tablets, syrup, suspensions etc. are available in market for women to cure menstrual problems like cramps, mood swings, etc. These products only cure the menstrual problems but there is not a single formulation available in the market, which additionally fulfil the nutritional demands of women during the menstruation. So, there is a need for the development of such effective dosage form for women. With these objectives, the present study aims to develop various patient compliant dosage forms that give the required therapeutic effect and also deliver micronutrients (minerals) and /or vitamins, alone or in combination, required by women specially in menstrual day. In this research work, effervescent tablets containing herbal extract, and mineral were developed by employing dry granulation method. The concept of ‘Formulation by Design’ has been successfully applied for assuring the quality development of effervescent tablets. Central composite design was employed for the optimization of the selected input / independent variables. ANOVA based statistical model, 2D counter plot, and 3D response surface plot were devised with help of Design Expert software (Version 12) for defining the relationship between the independent variables (amount of citric acid, sodium bicarbonate and sodium saccharin) and selected responses (angle of repose, Carr’s index and effervescence time). Developed effervescent tablets were evaluated for in process and finished product quality control test and results were found to be satisfactory. This study also includes the formulation of herbo-mineral syrups by heat and agitation method involving various combination of herbals extract, minerals and vitamins. Developed herbo-mineral syrup formulations were evaluated for various parameters like organoleptic properties, crystallisation, pH, sugar content and light transmittance test etc. and results were found to be incompliance with industrial practises. The present study successfully developed alternative nutraceutical formulations for women, that has the potential to fulfil the demand of majority of the body micronutrients and vitamins requirements of women along with the therapeutic benefits during the menstrual cycle.