AYUSH – yearend review

Department of Ayush was created by Government of India to consolidate holistic medicine – Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidha, Naturopathy, Homeopathy. The press release from AYUSH looks back into its activities for the year 2008.

What were once the preferred systems of health care for the masses are increasingly getting confined to a small section of western educated urban elite. As part of the strategy to bring back these systems into the mainstream the unique initiative of launching National Campaigns on select AYUSH themes was taken, the themes were developed keeping in mind specific areas of strengths that the different systems of AYUSH have. The broad format of the National Campaigns envisages the launch of the campaigns by a 2 day workshop at the National level followed by workshops at the State level and then at the district and sub-district levels. Thus a cascading effect is envisioned to spread the outcomes of the National Workshops from the Centre upto the district and the panchayat levels. So far four such campaigns have been launched. The first in the series being on Ksharsutra, which is an Ayurvedic para surgical procedure for treatment of Ano-rectal disorders. The technique not only stands duly validated by ICMR, but is being practiced by modern doctors in countries like Japan for over 20 years now. The Second was Homoeopathy for mother and child care. As we all know the health care needs of children and especially pregnant and lactating mothers are very different from the population at large. Homoeopathy being safe, effective, palatable and free from side effects is ideally suited to meet this need. The third Campaign was “Ayurveda for Geriatric Care”. The fact that the global population today is becoming increasingly gray is well documented. The chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions that the elderly suffer from need special care, but with a health infrastructure already creaking under the burden of a growing population, care of the elderly is not a priority. Given this backdrop, Ayurveda provides the ideal health option with its Rasayana therapy which is a dedicated branch of Ayurveda for the care of the elderly. This was one of the 8 branches of Ayurveda developed millennia ago, and today in 21st century we are looking to it for solutions. The fourth campaign was on Quality Assurance of AYUSH drugs[AYUSH: An year of consolidation ].

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An Article on Arthritis

An informative article on Arthritis and Ayurveda remedies by Dr.Gopika Ajith :

According to Ayurveda all types of arthritis involve a dosha called ‘vatha’.Rheumatoid arthritis is known as ‘Vatha Sonitha’ and osteo arthritis is known as ‘Sandhi Gata Vatha’. So the line of  treatment includes medicines and panchakarma treatments that reduces Vatha. Management of arthritis also includes diet, lifestyle changes, internal medicines and external treatment. Common treatment procedures include snehapana, abhyanga, sarvanga swedanam, virechana and vasti etc. [Ayurvedic remedy for arthritis]

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Ayurveda treatments for Cancer

Dr.Hiren Parekh in a recent articles have described Ayurveda alternatives to the treatment of Cancer. Given the side effects of existing treatment methods using modern medicine,like chemotherapy and radiation, these options are worth researching for effectiveness.

Please click here to read the complete article.

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Sceintific studies on effectiveness of alternative medicine

We had written on many occasions about the need for the involvement of Government of India in long term clinical studies of effectiveness of Ayurveda and traditional medicines. Such a study would enhance and rejuvenate Ayurveda medicine’s stand all over the world. It has to be a big and credible effort from the government’s side as there is a tendency to rubbish small studies as snake oil science.

A recent article in New York Times summarizes a few such efforts undertaken by various Universities, research institutions and academic centers across America. The article talks about opportunities and efforts on conducting studies on effectiveness of alternative medicine.

That kind of fog is what Dr. Briggs and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, with a budget of $122 million this year, are trying to eliminate. Their trials tend to be longer and larger. And if a treatment shows promise, the center extends the trials to many centers, further lowering the odds of false positives and investigator bias.

For instance, the center is conducting a large study to see if extracts from the ginkgo biloba tree can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. The clinical trials involve centers in California, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania and recruited more than 3,000 patients, all of them over 75. The study is to end next year.[Using science to sort claims of alternative medicine]

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Continuing the ‘research’ on Ayurveda medicines.

After the recent flawed study, Dr.Robert Saper of Boston University is continuing to the next step. He is researching the effect of Ayurveda medicines – concentrating on south Asian communities in New York City and in Kerala.

Saper is currently working with the New York City Department of Health and Human Hygiene on a study focusing on neighborhoods with high concentrations of South Asian immigrants, interviewing people about their use of ayurvedic products and checking their blood for the presence of metals. They’re also doing a similar study in the Indian state of Kerala. Finally, says Saper, “when we bring up instances of lead poisoning among users of these products, the response of the ayurvedic community is that the medicines were not properly prepared or that the manufacturer cut corners.” So Saper will lead a laboratory analysis of the chemical and physical structure of rasa shastra products made in the traditional way to see if there’s a mechanism whereby these metals can indeed be broken down safely. [Ayurvedic medicines merit a closer look]

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More on Ayurgenomics study by CSIR

Here is the full press release on the results on the recent study which establishes the relation between Body compositions(Prakriti) and genetic makeup. This is one of the corner stones of Ayurveda.

A landmark study, the first of its kind in the world, finds links between Prakriti, a fundamental principle of personalized medicine of Ayurveda, and modern genomics for development of predictive and personalized medicine. The study reveals that it is possible to identify groups within normal individuals of the populations, which could be predisposed to certain kind of diseases, and also might respond differently to drugs. Such integration of the principles of Ayurveda with genomics, appropriately termed as Ayurgenomics by the authors, holds great potential and promise for future predictive and personalized medicine at an affordable cost.

For the first time it has been demonstrated that normal individuals within the same ethnic population, clustered on the basis of clinical criteria described in Ayurveda, show variations in the basal levels of blood parameters used in routine for diagnostic purposes, as well as in basal levels of expression of genes. Read the Full press release here:[Ayurgenomics: CSIR study establishes links between Ayurveda & Modern Science for Predictive & Personalized Medicine ]

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Beginning of Ayurgenomics?

While the western media was busy bashing Ayurveda based on a faulty study , another research’s finding has come out. Ayurveda’s concept of calssifying each person into one of the several body constitutions – namely Vata, pitta, and Kapha – has been corroborated by a recent genetic study. This pioneering effort was done by Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi.

Ayurveda practitioners believe that susceptibility to disease is determined by a person’s constitution which, according to ancient texts, is fixed at birth. People with extreme constitutions are classified as Kapha, Pitta and Vata, but most people belong to a combination of these.

Now, biologist Mitali Mukherjee and her colleagues at the IGIB have discovered that individuals from within each of the extreme constitutions appear to share gene activity patterns — among housekeeping genes and genes involved in diseases.

“It was a surprise. The body constitutions defined in ayurveda appear to be reflected in gene activity and in blood tests,” Mukherjee said. The findings appeared last week in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

“This is perhaps the first biological evidence to support a central concept of ayurveda,” said Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan, a cardiac surgeon and former director of the Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram, who was not involved in the study. “There’s more in ayurveda than herbal medicines. This work is exploring the biology of traditional medicine.”

But the IGIB study, first proposed seven years ago, was almost obstructed by project reviewers of the department of biotechnology who appeared sceptical of attempts to investigate ayurveda through genome studies and turned down the proposal.[Gene proof for ayurveda concept]

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An Ayurveda physician’s reaction

As the news media deluged us under barrage of news on Ayurveda and toxicity, here’s one Ayurveda Physycian, G.J.Pillai, based in Malaysia, reacting to the whole affair.

The readers will never go anywhere near Ayurvedic medicines after reading the headline. That is what the Western scientists want.

Dr Robert Sapper and colleagues who analysed and reported their findings in the Journal of American Medical Association are ignorant of the Ayurvedic medical system.

The biochemical analysis of an Ayurvedic medicine may disclose many ingredients, including heavy metals and other minerals. Such minerals are not in a pure form as base metals but as a vegetative compound which is not poisonous.

Most Ayurvedic medicines are made from herbs and herbs are God’s creation. The plant’s growth is a highly complex process. Each plant has its own different content of metals and minerals in a consumable form.

If biochemical analysis is applied to a human body, what are the results that will be obtained? Many metals and minerals would be present. These are obtained from plant-based food. These minerals are required for health.

In essence, the metals present in the body as useful elements are also the ones mentioned as contaminants of the Ayurvedic medicines analysed by the scientists.[Analysts Are Wrong About Ayurvedic System]

Department of Ayush’s response to Ayurveda toxicity findings

It took nearly a week for Department of Ayush(Government of India) to get their act together to do a press release in response to Dr.Sapper’s ‘findings’.

Here’s the press release:

The bias of Dr. Saper against Ayurvedic medicines becomes very apparent from the fact that he has included even those Ayurvedic medicines being sold in USA in Table 3 of the above mentioned article in which lead is below WHO’s maximum permissible limit of 10ppm. Further, as per Dr. Saper’s article, these medicines are sold by internet which does not indicate the source of their origin. Further, some of the medicines mentioned in Table 3 of the article, namely Akangvir Ras, Agnitundi Bati, Arogyavardhini Bati are herbo metallic compounds which contain these metals as therapeutic agents after purification process. Dr. Saper has visited India and has been in touch with several Ayurveda experts and is fully aware that these herbo-metallic preparations used in Ayurvedic system of medicine contain heavy metals like lead, mercury and arsenic as therapeutic agents after proper de-toxification process and no significant adverse drug reactions have been reported regarding their use in India. Dr. Saper is also fully aware that a high level scientific research is being undertaken in India for physio chemical characterization and safety of herbo metallic preparations for Rasa Aushadhies.

It needs to be emphasized that as per the directions issued by Department of AYUSH, herbo metallic compounds are not being officially exported because of heavy metal concerns and only purely herbal Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha medicines are being exported from India with effect from 1.1.2006 after certification of heavy metals below the permissible limit by the manufacturing unit. In view of the above, the above mentioned article of Dr. Saper and his associates is seriously flawed and discloses a strong bias against Ayurvedic medicines. Indian scientists and research institutions will be responding to the issues raised by Dr. Saper, howsoever flawed they may be, through research articles based on their work on Ayurvedic medicines in due course.[Read the full press release here]

Some Reactions to the recent findings of heavy metals in ayurveda…

Some reactions to the recent finding of heavy metals in ayurveda medicine.

A study in the Journal of the American Medican Association (JAMA) says lead, mercury and arsenic were found in unhealthy levels in some Ayurvedic medicines sold in the U.S.

From an LAT report by Alan Zarembo:

Lead, mercury and arsenic were found in the traditionally Indian herbal mixtures at levels that would surpass California safety guidelines, says a researcher who is calling for FDA curbs.

Ayurvedic medicines — herbal mixtures dating back thousands of years in India and increasingly popular in the West — are frequently contaminated with lead, mercury or arsenic, according to a study published today.

A fifth of the nearly 200 concoctions tested contained levels of the toxic metals that, if taken at the maximum recommended doses, would surpass California’s safety guidelines.

Dr. Robert Saper, a Boston University professor of family medicine who led the study, said the findings should spur the Food and Drug Administration to start clamping down on the largely unregulated world of pills, herbs and powders classified as dietary supplements.

“It shouldn’t be me trying to figure this out,” Saper said.

Zarembo points out that there are no unified standards for what is considered safe.

Lead levels allowed by the World Health Organization are 500 times the California limits.

[New Medical study raises questions ...]