The year 1994 has been a good year of progress and more informed use of alternative medicine. Several new products from plants have been put in the marketer for use by doctors- taxol for ovarian cancer, ginger for nausea after chemotherapy are two examples. The anti-malaria drug artemesenin from the Chinese plant quing hao tsu has reached India and is being tested in Assam and Orissa. It has been found effective without any side effects, and is available throughout the country. World over there is an increasing use of herbal medicines.
In China alone the sale of herbal products amounted to 1.7 billion dollars out of which medicines worth 400 million dollars was exported only to the United States. In the United States the sales of herbal medicines increased by about 15 per cent while the increase in the sales of pharmaceutical preparations is around 4 per cent. Pharmaceutical houses are now actively carrying out research on medicinal plants. Glaxo, SmithKline and Beecham, and Merck, are back in this field. New pharmaceutical houses have been set up to work mainly on plants.
The changes envisaged in the international proprietary rights after adopting the Dunkel proposals will make it inevitable for Indian pharmaceutical houses to support research in a truly big way. While it may not be possible for them to compete internationally in developing synthetic drugs it is possible, if they support research in the way needed, for them to discover medicines from the medicinal plants available and used in India. It would enable this country to benefit from the new patent rights situation which will come into force in a few years. Several interesting developments have taken place outside India. A Chair in Complementary Medicine has been set up in Europe.
More and more articles have been published in medical and anthropological journals suggesting that work is needed in the field of traditional medicines. It appears that the developed countries have realised the potential value of systems such as Ayurveda, Unani. Siddha, Homeopathy, the Chinese system of traditional medicine and Japanese Kampo medicines.
The Indian Council of Medical Research is going ahead with its disease oriented programme in clinical evaluation of ancient remedies. Already, it has been clearly demonstrated that a medicated thread coated with three plant substances is an alternative to surgery in case of anal fistula. Together with the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, it has been demonstrated that Picrorhazia kurroa is effective in hepatitis clinically.
A methodology still has to be set up to record and then investigate selectively, cures that have been reported all over the country with herbal medicines. An aggressive programme needs to be intiated to see that we preserve the bio-diversity. We also have to look into the legal position regarding use of traditional medicines by allopathic practitioners and the use of allopathic medicines by traditional practitioners. The first such case has already been taken to the consumer’s forum. It is a case of a homepath using allopathic medicines.
This issue needs careful thinking, especially since in many of our national programme, we are encouraging use of selected allopathic drugs by people who are not doctors. Is there a distinction between an Ayurvedic practitioner practicing allopathy, which is illegal, and using medicines developed for use in allopathy after learning about these drugs and vice versa. Wider implications of health care and the potential of alternative systems of medicine need to be discussed.
Showing posts with label allopathic medicine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allopathic medicine. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Ayurvedic Unani Medicine becoming Popular in England
During a visit to England, the use of alternative medicines, particularly ayurvedic, unani and home remedies, by the ethnic. Asian population in England was discussed by the author on several occasions. A leading consultant in general practice in London, Dr James Bevan, who has in his practice treated many people of different nationalites and background, said that it is very difficult to know from the patients or form the tablets and capsules what plants and herbs constituted the medicines they had been taking.
This made it difficult to treat such patients if they came in with some complaints or if allopathic medicines had to be given as there may be reaction between the two. It is important that people going for a visit to western countries keep a note of what medicines they had been taking and also practitioner in the United Kingdom would have no idea how to deal with a patient who comes in with complaints possibly caused by a medicine about which he knows nothing.
Dr Bevan further stressed the point that medicinal plants are the source of several medicines widely used today in allopathic medicine system, for example, digitalis for heart disease. These medicines induce side effects if not used properly, therefore he felt that the herbal medicines used by his patients could also perhaps cause side effects if not used in the right way It would therefore be of advantage to the patient and his general practitioner in UK if he knew exactly what herbal medicines he had been taking.
Sir Colin Dollery, Dean of the prestigious Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital and one of the world’s leading clinical pharmacologists brought up the issue of the standardization for herbal remedies. According to him, it was very important that quality control of the herbal preparations being used anywhere should be rigidly carried out. Both the author and Sir Colin Dollery felt that thousands of the emigrant population living in the United Kingdom probably still continue to use the traditional remedies they had been using in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Interestingly the same point about quality control was forcefully made in The Lancet of 9 July 1994 by J Bjorkhem and his colleagues from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
These scientists collected fifty commercial samples of ginseng sold in eleven countries and tested these for the presence of ginsenosides which are the compounds present in ginseng and thought to be responsible for its beneficial therapeutic effect. Suprisingly six of the commercial preparations sold in Sweden, USA and UK did not contain any specific ginesenosides at all. In the remaining fourty-four samples, the concentration of ginesonosides varied from 1.9 per cent to 9.0 per cent. The authors conclude that quality control is urgently needed for commercial ginseng preparations and other natural remedies. Both the issue of possible side effects of herbal preparations and the need for standardization of such preparations were also discussed at a
seminar given by the author at the Department of Pharmacology, Oxford on 12 september, 1994. That there is considerable interest in traditional medicine even in centres of excellence of western science and medicine could be seen by the interesting discussion which followed this seminar on “Research on medicinal plants in the twenty first century”. Prof. A David Smith, a leading international research worker in the field of neuropharmacology, now working actively to find a cure for Alzheimers disease, is Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford, conducted the seminar.
Questions from the scientists included the potential cost of herbal preparations after standardization, whether urban migration in India would lead to a decrease in the use of herbal preparations, whether research being conducted to discover new medicines from age appropriately, whether combination of herbs actually used were also being tested out scientifically and finally what were the chances of new drugs being discovered from medicinal plants in the coming years.
This made it difficult to treat such patients if they came in with some complaints or if allopathic medicines had to be given as there may be reaction between the two. It is important that people going for a visit to western countries keep a note of what medicines they had been taking and also practitioner in the United Kingdom would have no idea how to deal with a patient who comes in with complaints possibly caused by a medicine about which he knows nothing.
Dr Bevan further stressed the point that medicinal plants are the source of several medicines widely used today in allopathic medicine system, for example, digitalis for heart disease. These medicines induce side effects if not used properly, therefore he felt that the herbal medicines used by his patients could also perhaps cause side effects if not used in the right way It would therefore be of advantage to the patient and his general practitioner in UK if he knew exactly what herbal medicines he had been taking.
Sir Colin Dollery, Dean of the prestigious Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital and one of the world’s leading clinical pharmacologists brought up the issue of the standardization for herbal remedies. According to him, it was very important that quality control of the herbal preparations being used anywhere should be rigidly carried out. Both the author and Sir Colin Dollery felt that thousands of the emigrant population living in the United Kingdom probably still continue to use the traditional remedies they had been using in India, Pakistan or Sri Lanka. Interestingly the same point about quality control was forcefully made in The Lancet of 9 July 1994 by J Bjorkhem and his colleagues from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
These scientists collected fifty commercial samples of ginseng sold in eleven countries and tested these for the presence of ginsenosides which are the compounds present in ginseng and thought to be responsible for its beneficial therapeutic effect. Suprisingly six of the commercial preparations sold in Sweden, USA and UK did not contain any specific ginesenosides at all. In the remaining fourty-four samples, the concentration of ginesonosides varied from 1.9 per cent to 9.0 per cent. The authors conclude that quality control is urgently needed for commercial ginseng preparations and other natural remedies. Both the issue of possible side effects of herbal preparations and the need for standardization of such preparations were also discussed at a
seminar given by the author at the Department of Pharmacology, Oxford on 12 september, 1994. That there is considerable interest in traditional medicine even in centres of excellence of western science and medicine could be seen by the interesting discussion which followed this seminar on “Research on medicinal plants in the twenty first century”. Prof. A David Smith, a leading international research worker in the field of neuropharmacology, now working actively to find a cure for Alzheimers disease, is Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford, conducted the seminar.
Questions from the scientists included the potential cost of herbal preparations after standardization, whether urban migration in India would lead to a decrease in the use of herbal preparations, whether research being conducted to discover new medicines from age appropriately, whether combination of herbs actually used were also being tested out scientifically and finally what were the chances of new drugs being discovered from medicinal plants in the coming years.
Herbs to Protect Liver - Natural Treatment for Liver
There is a great need to discover medicines which protect the liver against damaging diseases such as hepatitis and also rapidly restore full functioning of a damaged liver. Hepatitis in many cases, if not treated, could later on in life lead to the cancer of the liver. Alcohol also damages the liver and western world is looking for herbal preparations to protect the liver from alcohol. Many of the powerful drugs used these day sometimes indiscriminately damage the liver.
There are hardly any medicines in allopathic medicine which are known to protect the liver or to treat a damaged liver. Research on some of these plants could yield one or more medicines for liver disease which could be widely used. Fortunately research is being carried out in this field both in India and in Japan. Some of this work has been described.
Out of the many Indian plants used for protecting the liver, three have been selected as being the ones which are the most promising at this time to become drugs for liver disease. These are Andrographis paniculata known as Chirata, Picrorhiza kurroa known as kutki and Phyllanthus niruri known as bhoomyamalkai.
Andrographis paniculata is also known as Kalmegh. Work carried out in several Indian laboratories and particularly at the Department of Pharmacy, Punjab University, Chandigarh by Professor Handa and his group has clearly demonstrated the liver protective property of this plant on experimental animals. The whole plant is used as a juice or as a powder in Ayurvedic medicine system. In earlier years in Bihar, the twigs of Chirata were left in a tumbler of water overnight and the water was drunk in the morning to treat what was then described as a sluggish liver.
Unfortunately it is getting increasingly difficult to obtain these plants and large scale cultivation needs to be carried out. Picrorhiza kurroa or Kutki, again is used throughout northern India as a liver protective substance. It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine system. Experimental work was carried out jointly by the Indians Council of Medical Research and the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow led by Professor Dhawan of a substance called Picroliv which is responsible for this beneficial effect. Picroliv is already being clinically evaluated in patients of helatitis.
Phyllanthus niruri or bhoomyamalkai is used South India as a Potent liver protecting substance. A clinical trial of this plant was carried out in 1983 by Dr Dixit and Dr Achar in 160 children out of the 160 improved. This study needs to be repeated on a larger number of children in a well controlled trial. It is understood that such “ double blind” trials are being thought of.
In addition to these plants used largely in India in the Ayurvedic system of medicine and folklore medicine, there are other plants used in the Unani system of medicine being used in India and in Kampo system of medicine used in Japan.
There are hardly any medicines in allopathic medicine which are known to protect the liver or to treat a damaged liver. Research on some of these plants could yield one or more medicines for liver disease which could be widely used. Fortunately research is being carried out in this field both in India and in Japan. Some of this work has been described.
Out of the many Indian plants used for protecting the liver, three have been selected as being the ones which are the most promising at this time to become drugs for liver disease. These are Andrographis paniculata known as Chirata, Picrorhiza kurroa known as kutki and Phyllanthus niruri known as bhoomyamalkai.
Andrographis paniculata is also known as Kalmegh. Work carried out in several Indian laboratories and particularly at the Department of Pharmacy, Punjab University, Chandigarh by Professor Handa and his group has clearly demonstrated the liver protective property of this plant on experimental animals. The whole plant is used as a juice or as a powder in Ayurvedic medicine system. In earlier years in Bihar, the twigs of Chirata were left in a tumbler of water overnight and the water was drunk in the morning to treat what was then described as a sluggish liver.
Unfortunately it is getting increasingly difficult to obtain these plants and large scale cultivation needs to be carried out. Picrorhiza kurroa or Kutki, again is used throughout northern India as a liver protective substance. It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine system. Experimental work was carried out jointly by the Indians Council of Medical Research and the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow led by Professor Dhawan of a substance called Picroliv which is responsible for this beneficial effect. Picroliv is already being clinically evaluated in patients of helatitis.
Phyllanthus niruri or bhoomyamalkai is used South India as a Potent liver protecting substance. A clinical trial of this plant was carried out in 1983 by Dr Dixit and Dr Achar in 160 children out of the 160 improved. This study needs to be repeated on a larger number of children in a well controlled trial. It is understood that such “ double blind” trials are being thought of.
In addition to these plants used largely in India in the Ayurvedic system of medicine and folklore medicine, there are other plants used in the Unani system of medicine being used in India and in Kampo system of medicine used in Japan.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Herbal Medicines - Home Remedies, Treating Ailments at Home
All of us keep a certain number of allopathic medicines at home, which are use whenever needed. These medicines usually include a pain killing medicine, an antihistamine tablet, a laxative, a drug for diarrhoea, an antibiotic and perhaps on antiseptic ointment. There are also simple inexpensive herbal medicines now available in the market which could also be kept at home and used whenever necessary.
Ocimum sanctum or tulsi can be kept for preventing or treating coughs and common cold. Mentha arvensis known as mint or pudina would certainly help when a person suffers from indigestion or flatulence. For constipation, the husks of Plantago ovata, soaked in little water or milk, is the preferred treatment, even allopathic medicine. It is commonly known as Isabgol. Nausea or loss of appetite should be treated by giving Zingiber officinale commonly known as ginger. Interestingly, the Food and Drug Directorate of the USA has just recently approved the use of ginger for treating nausea that is usually seen when treating cancer patients with anticancer drugs. The fruit of the Aegle marmelos, the bael plant, should be used for treating diarrhoea and preparations of this are available in the market.
To treat fever, one can have tea made from Ocimum sanctum, neem, Azadirachta indica and black pepper. Honey shuld also be kept as a home remedy. It can be used with tulsi for the treatment of coughs, while in certain circumstances, it can also be used to promote healing of wounds. A preparation of Albizzia lebeck or Siris could be kept in the house for the treatment of asthmatic attacks or bad fits of coughing.
To treat a luggish liver, keeping some stems of the plant Andrographis paniculata or chirata at home will come in handy. These can be left overnight in a tumbler of water which should be taken the next morning. Acidity is a very common problem, preparation containing Embelia officinalis or vidanga are available and one of these could be used to treat acidity. A preparation of the plant Curcuma longa or haldi has a clear anti-inflammatory effect, both when applied locally and when taken orally. This should be kept at home for the treatment of inflammatory conditions such arthritis and back pain. A preparation of Azadirachta indica should be kept for local application in skin disorders.
It has often asked whether these home remedies are effective. There is of course ethnobotanical support for their efficacy in that generations have been using these remedies. Experimental and clinical observations also appear to support their therapeutic effect. Strict well controlled clinical trials have however been carried out only with a few of these plants and more work need to be done before some of these plants are fully accepted for use in allopathic medicine.
Ocimum sanctum or tulsi can be kept for preventing or treating coughs and common cold. Mentha arvensis known as mint or pudina would certainly help when a person suffers from indigestion or flatulence. For constipation, the husks of Plantago ovata, soaked in little water or milk, is the preferred treatment, even allopathic medicine. It is commonly known as Isabgol. Nausea or loss of appetite should be treated by giving Zingiber officinale commonly known as ginger. Interestingly, the Food and Drug Directorate of the USA has just recently approved the use of ginger for treating nausea that is usually seen when treating cancer patients with anticancer drugs. The fruit of the Aegle marmelos, the bael plant, should be used for treating diarrhoea and preparations of this are available in the market.
To treat fever, one can have tea made from Ocimum sanctum, neem, Azadirachta indica and black pepper. Honey shuld also be kept as a home remedy. It can be used with tulsi for the treatment of coughs, while in certain circumstances, it can also be used to promote healing of wounds. A preparation of Albizzia lebeck or Siris could be kept in the house for the treatment of asthmatic attacks or bad fits of coughing.
To treat a luggish liver, keeping some stems of the plant Andrographis paniculata or chirata at home will come in handy. These can be left overnight in a tumbler of water which should be taken the next morning. Acidity is a very common problem, preparation containing Embelia officinalis or vidanga are available and one of these could be used to treat acidity. A preparation of the plant Curcuma longa or haldi has a clear anti-inflammatory effect, both when applied locally and when taken orally. This should be kept at home for the treatment of inflammatory conditions such arthritis and back pain. A preparation of Azadirachta indica should be kept for local application in skin disorders.
It has often asked whether these home remedies are effective. There is of course ethnobotanical support for their efficacy in that generations have been using these remedies. Experimental and clinical observations also appear to support their therapeutic effect. Strict well controlled clinical trials have however been carried out only with a few of these plants and more work need to be done before some of these plants are fully accepted for use in allopathic medicine.