Sharbat: An Important Dosage Form of Unani System of Medicine

The word Sharbat (English, sherbet) is a soft drink or liquor that incorporates white sugar, misri, honey, and gur dissolved in water. However, in the Greco–Arab pharmacopeia, Sharbat implies a concentrated liquor made from decoction or fruit juices by adding sugar to yield a qiwam (1). Sharbat (syrup) is made by preparing the decoction or infusion of the ingredient drugs or by taking the juice of the fruit, which is then mixed with sugar and boiled to a required consistency (2). The invention of Sharbat is attributed to Pythagoras (an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician). Sharbat is characterized by its sweet taste (i.e., good palatability). The reason behind the innovation of Sharbat dosage form lies in the fact that most of the herbs, if taken raw, are highly impalatable. So, to enhance palatability and prolong the storage period of medicines, Sharbat dosage form was designed in the Unani system of medicine (USM) (1). The equivalent of Sharbat in a modern system is syrup. Syrups are concentrated, viscous, aqueous solutions of sugar substitute with or without flavors and medical substances (3). The syrup is used to treat coughs and sore throats, relieve tickling and irritation of the throat, loosen phlegm, facilitate expectoration, and heal and soothe the throat and lungs (4). When purified water alone is used in making the solution of sucrose, the preparation is known as syrup or simple syrup if the sucrose concentration is 85% (3).