International Journal of Molecular Medical Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 69-79 http://medscipublisher.com/index.php/ijmms 74 that complex formulations often exhibit higher toxicity compared to single components, highlighting the necessity of evaluating the combined effects of multiple components (Nagy et al., 2019). This is crucial for ensuring clinical safety. Therefore, when conducting a comprehensive safety assessment of FMH substances, the synergy or antagonism among their components should be taken into account. 6.3 Standardization and quality control challenges Standardization and quality control are the core obstacles for FMH products to enter clinical application. Strictly controlling the source of raw materials and the stability of production batches is a key link to ensure quality. The composition of raw materials may fluctuate due to differences in growth environment, planting methods or processing techniques, resulting in deviations in therapeutic effect and safety (Sun et al., 2023). Therefore, it is necessary to establish a full-process standard system covering planting, harvesting and processing in order to ensure the stability of product performance. It is crucial to develop precise detection methods to determine the content of active ingredients and evaluate the overall quality. Systems biology techniques (such as network pharmacology) provide a new approach for the systematic study of FMH substances, which can reveal the core active molecules and their mechanisms of action (Noor et al., 2022; Yuan et al., 2023). By leveraging these technologies to comprehensively analyze the composition of components and biological effects, and simultaneously monitor the quality fluctuations of different batches of products, it will promote the establishment of a more complete quality control standard system. 6.4 Regulatory and policy support Regulation and policy support are crucial for the clinical promotion of FMH substances. The current regulatory framework has not fully considered the unique challenges of FMH substances, such as component diversity and dual positioning. To this end, it is necessary to combine risk assessment and quality inspection standards to formulate regulatory guidelines specifically for safety, effectiveness and quality control, in order to provide clear operational basis for regulatory authorities and align with international standards (Nagy et al., 2019). The European Union is working on improving the safety assessment system for complex chemical substances to address the challenges brought about by the coexistence of multiple components in FMH products (Nagy et al., 2019). The relevant work includes formulating more complete testing standards, covering the synergistic effects of multiple components, and verifying the effectiveness of the evaluation methods by promoting multi-institutional joint research. The government has accelerated the transition of laboratory achievements to practical medical applications through support measures such as funding clinical research projects and establishing cross-border scientific research alliances (Koziolek et al., 2019). 7 Emerging research and cutting-edge technologies 7.1 Drug development based on active ingredients Because food and medicine homologous substances have both nutritional and therapeutic functions, they are valued in the research and development of new drugs. The primary task is to identify the effective molecules in these food ingredients. High-throughput screening, phage display and virtual screening and other technologies have been used to accelerate the discovery of active substances. Through these methods, their targets in cells can be identified and verified rapidly, which is crucial for the development of health-promoting foods and derivative drugs (Shiuan et al., 2020). Furthermore, researchers also utilized machine learning to predict the inhibitory ability of compounds on key targets such as COX-2 and mPGES-1, providing a reference for the design of new anti-inflammatory drugs (Tian et al., 2023). 7.2 Application of new extraction technologies The new non-thermal extraction method has a remarkable effect in maintaining the activity of food components. Common techniques such as high-voltage processing, pulsed electric field and ultrasonic extraction can not only preserve the effective components but also improve the material utilization efficiency. By adjusting the process conditions, the decomposition of macromolecules and the oxidation of active substances can be prevented, ensuring the stability of key components (Galanakis, 2021). These technological breakthroughs are particularly
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