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.
Showing posts with label unani medicine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unani medicine. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tulsi - A Wonder herb
Ocimum sanctum, commonly known as tulsi or holy basil is found in most Indian homes more than any other plant. A tulsi plant in the courtyard of a traditional home is linked with both religious practice and healthy living. The tulsi plant is associated with so many therapeutic properties that it is difficult to know clearly where it should be used in modern therapeutic practice.
A review of the scientific literature leads us to the use of Ocimum sanctum in respiratory disorders. It is a simple remedy for cough and cold and for the treatment of fever. It is the Krishna tulsi, darker in colour which is used rather than the lighter coloured Shyam tulsi. To prevent coughs and colds, it has been suggested in Ayurvedic medicine that five leaves of the plant, after washing carefully, should be taken every day. Tulsi leaves, together with neem leaves and black pepper, have been reported to prevent and treat fevers, including malarial infection.
Having few leaves of tulsi boiled in water every morning is reported to exert an anti-stress effect. Tulsi and honey is undoubtedly effective in treating a persistent cough. Keeping a tulsi plant in the home has been looked upon as creating healthy atmosphere, and Ayurvedic physicians believe that it particularly helps person with a tendency to
succumb to respiratory problems and asthma. It is very possible that the benefits of this simple home remedy would be manifold.
At the Science Day on 28 February, the Indian Council of Medical Research exhibited at their office some plants reported to have therapeutic properties. Tulsi were one of the plants on the table, and the anti-stress property of the plant was mentioned. Till now, there were not many methods available to clearly determine whether a plant has clear anti-stress activity or not. Most of the earlier work has been carried out on animals and there are limitations to this type of experimental work. For example, it is not really very easy to find out whether a plant can prevent cough or cold. Today we have methods available for carrying out such studies in humans and also to find out if tulsi has an anti—stress activity.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the Council of Research in Ayurvedic and the Central of Research in Unani medicine all have programmers for clinically evaluating medicinal plants. Tulsi will certainly to be one of the plants which will be tested. In recent years, the sale of the Korean plant, ginseng, has increased dramatically in India, and is being prescribed as a tonic, and as a medicine which enhances well being, diminishes stress and raises the quality of life.
In fact, these are the very qualities that have been associated for centuries with the tulsi plant in India. It would not come as a surprise if, in the years ahead, tulsi too finds a national and international market for its many faceted properties. Till these clinical trials are carried out and the results assessed, one can safely continue taking five tulsi leaves every day.
A review of the scientific literature leads us to the use of Ocimum sanctum in respiratory disorders. It is a simple remedy for cough and cold and for the treatment of fever. It is the Krishna tulsi, darker in colour which is used rather than the lighter coloured Shyam tulsi. To prevent coughs and colds, it has been suggested in Ayurvedic medicine that five leaves of the plant, after washing carefully, should be taken every day. Tulsi leaves, together with neem leaves and black pepper, have been reported to prevent and treat fevers, including malarial infection.
Having few leaves of tulsi boiled in water every morning is reported to exert an anti-stress effect. Tulsi and honey is undoubtedly effective in treating a persistent cough. Keeping a tulsi plant in the home has been looked upon as creating healthy atmosphere, and Ayurvedic physicians believe that it particularly helps person with a tendency to
succumb to respiratory problems and asthma. It is very possible that the benefits of this simple home remedy would be manifold.
At the Science Day on 28 February, the Indian Council of Medical Research exhibited at their office some plants reported to have therapeutic properties. Tulsi were one of the plants on the table, and the anti-stress property of the plant was mentioned. Till now, there were not many methods available to clearly determine whether a plant has clear anti-stress activity or not. Most of the earlier work has been carried out on animals and there are limitations to this type of experimental work. For example, it is not really very easy to find out whether a plant can prevent cough or cold. Today we have methods available for carrying out such studies in humans and also to find out if tulsi has an anti—stress activity.
The Indian Council of Medical Research, the Council of Research in Ayurvedic and the Central of Research in Unani medicine all have programmers for clinically evaluating medicinal plants. Tulsi will certainly to be one of the plants which will be tested. In recent years, the sale of the Korean plant, ginseng, has increased dramatically in India, and is being prescribed as a tonic, and as a medicine which enhances well being, diminishes stress and raises the quality of life.
In fact, these are the very qualities that have been associated for centuries with the tulsi plant in India. It would not come as a surprise if, in the years ahead, tulsi too finds a national and international market for its many faceted properties. Till these clinical trials are carried out and the results assessed, one can safely continue taking five tulsi leaves every day.
Unani Medicine for Chronic Viral Hepatitis
The Central Council for Research in Unani medicine, under the leadership of Hakim Syed Khaleefatullah, has been carrying out research on infective hepatitis for the past many years. A large study on the effect of Unani medicine, Tukhm-e-Kasni on Iltahabe-e-Kalid(infective hepatitis) was carried out at the Uniani Regional Institute, Madras. The Tukhm-e-Kasni was administered with honey and nausbader. A report incorporating the result of this trial was published in 1992 by the Council. The result indicated that out of 290 cases, eighty-two had complete remission at the end of ten days treatment while ninety-seven cases were relieved after treatment for twenty days. Another eighty-seven cases had remission at the end of treatment for thirty days. These encouraging trials now need to be reported with a double blind controlled study.
The main ingredient is a plant known as Kasni, botanically identified as Cichorium intybus. The fruits are used after drying for this preparation. The method of preparation as described in the monograph is as follows “Heat the honey on a stove till it reaches the ‘Qimam’ stage; then add Naushader and allow it to cool. After cooling, add the Tukhm-e-Kasni powder and
Make it into a paste (Majoon).” The adult dose is 10-15gm three times a day before meals. Interestingly, there is no mention of this plant in the compilation on medicinal plants of India. It is, however, widely used in Unani medicine. Japanese scientists have also been investigating the effect of plants in patients with viral hepatitis which is a serious problem in Japan. Glycyrrhizin obtained from the plant Glycyrrhizae radix has been administered intravenously in patients in a multicentred double blind trial. This reduced the raised levels of enzymes seen in viral hepatitis. Other trials have been carried out with a preparation called TJ-9 which contains seven crude drugs.
One of these plants is the Bupleuri radix. The root of this plant is used. Result of tests carried out on eighty patients clearly indicated that the combination was effective in treating chronic viral hepatitis.
Finally, a substance, gomisin isolated from the fruit of schzandrae fructus when administered to experimental animals induced a hepatoprotective effect. This has now to be experimented in patients. It appears very clearly that the world of plants will perhaps provide hepatoprotective substance to the world, in the years to come.
The main ingredient is a plant known as Kasni, botanically identified as Cichorium intybus. The fruits are used after drying for this preparation. The method of preparation as described in the monograph is as follows “Heat the honey on a stove till it reaches the ‘Qimam’ stage; then add Naushader and allow it to cool. After cooling, add the Tukhm-e-Kasni powder and
Make it into a paste (Majoon).” The adult dose is 10-15gm three times a day before meals. Interestingly, there is no mention of this plant in the compilation on medicinal plants of India. It is, however, widely used in Unani medicine. Japanese scientists have also been investigating the effect of plants in patients with viral hepatitis which is a serious problem in Japan. Glycyrrhizin obtained from the plant Glycyrrhizae radix has been administered intravenously in patients in a multicentred double blind trial. This reduced the raised levels of enzymes seen in viral hepatitis. Other trials have been carried out with a preparation called TJ-9 which contains seven crude drugs.
One of these plants is the Bupleuri radix. The root of this plant is used. Result of tests carried out on eighty patients clearly indicated that the combination was effective in treating chronic viral hepatitis.
Finally, a substance, gomisin isolated from the fruit of schzandrae fructus when administered to experimental animals induced a hepatoprotective effect. This has now to be experimented in patients. It appears very clearly that the world of plants will perhaps provide hepatoprotective substance to the world, in the years to come.