The biodiversity and economic potential of the Brazilian flora have long been promoted and used as jargon/justification in several studies in the field of natural products, often emphasizing the importance of biodiversity for human well-being and health. In the same context, come together the "rational access and use of natural resources associated with traditional health practices". For more than ten years, the national policy on medicinal plants and herbal medicines has been promulgated, and this presentation will focus on reflections on this political incentive, and what have been the main discoveries involving the chemistry of natural products in researches developed in the laboratory of the presenter. Unpublished results from clinical studies with pata-de-vaca (Bauhinia forficata) will be first hand presented, and several issues will be highlighted that, in the presenter's view, are relevant and should be observed when studying the chemistry of natural products with application in human health.