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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Ayurveda medicines and toxicity – More reports

Ayurveda is a way of life and is a time tested way of healthy living. At a time when Ayurveda is trying to reach out to all over the world and spread its wings there is bound to be resistance and negative news reports. Moreover there are opportunists who try to make a quick buck or two riding on Ayurveda’s increasing popularity. Ayurveda is not a few over the counter herbal medications, it’s a way of life. This message need to be amplified.

There is another barrage of news reports in western media about presence of heavy metals in Ayurvedic medicines. It’s high time that Government of India step in and create a FDA like body to regulate the Ayurvedic medicine market. If positive steps are not taken now Ayurveda medicines will be stigmatized and an opportunity to reach out to newer markets and serve will be squandered.

Below is report on one such study which claims that 21% of Ayurvedic medicines contain heavy metals.

Traditional herbal supplements used by thousands of Americans may contain dangerously high levels of lead and other toxins, a study shows. Nearly 21% of Ayurvedic medicines — plant-based products used in India for thousands of years to promote health — actually contain lead, mercury or arsenic,according to a study in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.[Study finds toxins in ...]

Interestingly enough, the researchers say that they bought all the medicines used for the study over the internet. Would that give the researchers the authority to claim that 21% of all the Ayurvedic medicines, used by millions of Indians, contain heavy metals?

Saper and his colleagues purchased all of the medicines on the Internet. In a 2004 study, he also found lead, mercury and arsenic in 20% of Ayurvedic supplements sold in Boston-area stores.[Study finds toxins...]

Having said that, it’s easy to lay blame on such narrow studies. The actual blame lies on the makers of Ayurveda supplements who has the eye only on the quick profits. Unless a strict quality regime is imposed, there will be more such researches and more skepticism towards Ayurveda.

PS: If ayurveda was that toxic, indian population would have been extinct by now.

Hybrid treatments – Modern medicine and alternative therapy

These days we see people resorting to alternate therapies as a last resort. But hereis an interesting article from Times of India which pushes the case of combining modern medicine and alternative therapies.

When doctors at the Nephrology department at AIIMS gave a go-ahead to patients wanting to combine Ayurvedic kadhas and Yunani medicines with their regular treatment at the hospital, the decision was eyed with misgivings. But contrary to beliefs, the alternative therapies did wonders when coupled with modern medicine!

One of the patients who was advised an immediate dialysis could avert it for three long years, thanks to the khadhas and pranayam prescribed by a yoga guru. Another patient at Dharamshila Cancer hospital was given a go ahead when she asked her doctor if she could include wheat grass juice as a measure to boost her haemoglobin levels.[Integrated therapy: Future of healing?]

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Turmeric – Curecumin?

The omni present ingredient of Indian cuisine, turmeric, is getting a lot of attention these days. Here’s report on extensive research done on turmeric in an American university.

The researchers state that although turmeric (Curcuma longa; an Indian spice) has been described in Ayurveda, as a treatment for inflammatory diseases and is referred by different names in different cultures, the active principle called curcumin or diferuloylmethane, a yellow pigment present in turmeric (an ingredient in curry powder) has been shown to exhibit numerous activities.

Extensive research over the last half century has revealed several important functions of curcumin, the researchers claim in a review essay scheduled for publication this month in Biochemical Pharmacology. The researchers are Ajay Goel of the Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, and Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara and Bharat B. Aggarwal of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston. Aggarwal is considered to be the world’s leading authority on curcumin.

The report goes on to reveal a long list of potential therapeutic benefits derived from using up to 12 g of curcumin.

The researchers claim that various preclinical cell-culture and animal studies suggest that curcumin has potential as an antiproliferative, anti-invasive, and antiangiogenic agent; as a mediator of chemoresistance and radioresistance; as a chemopreventive agent; and as a therapeutic agent in wound healing, diabetes, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and arthritis.[turmeric moves from kitchen shelf to clinic]

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