| Table Of Contents |
|---|
| USE OF PLANTS IN AYURVEDA |
| Bioavailability |
| Synergy |
USE OF PLANTS IN AYURVEDA
In Ayurveda, a vast variety of herbs are utilized to preserve balance and harmony so that excellent health may be achieved.
- Plants were often mixed to enhance bioavailability, decrease toxicity, and produce synergy.
- Although a significant variety of single medicines were utilized, multiplant formulations were and still are favored.
- However, few studies have been conducted to offer scientific evidence for these pairings, not least because to the difficulties in developing a proper technique to do so.
Bioavailability
When either the traditional three-spice or pungent mixture known as trikatu (tri: “three”; katu: “pungent”), consisting of Piper longum (long pepper), Piper nigrum (pepper), and Zingiber officinale (ginger), or the major alkaloid piperine of P. longum and P. nigrum, is added to for- mulations, it has been possible to show an increase in bioavailability.
- This idea has also been used to lowering the necessary dose of anti-TB medicines like rifampicin and other antibiotics like ciprofloxacin.
- Controlled studies have also shown that by adding small amounts of piperine to nutraceuticals like -carotene and curcumin, absorption of nutraceuticals like -carotene and curcumin can be increased severalfold in healthy volunteers—by 60 percent in the case of -carotene and 2000 percent in the case of 20 mg piperine to 2 g curcumin.
Synergy.
Combining medications has been proven to be helpful in a few clinical trials.
- In osteoarthritis, frozen shoulder, and sciatica, combination treatment with Semecarpus anacardium (bhallatak), Dalbergia lanceolaria (gourakh), and Commiphora mukul (guggul) produced greater benefits than the individual medicines alone.
- Other examples include adding Bacopa monnieri to the combination of Inula racemosa and Commiphora mukul for heart disease treatment (“Cardiovascular drugs”), the combination of Gymnema sylvestre and Eugenia jambolana for diabetes (“Antidiabetic agents”), and the combination of Zingiber officinale and Commiphora mukul for arthritis treatment ( “Antirheumatic agents”).
Any scientific research of Ayurvedic herbs would benefit tremendously from a review of early Ayurvedic writings' ideas, conceptions, and pronouncements on plant collecting, processing, combination, selection, and usage to determine how they align with modern scientific knowledge.
- Even a cursory glance into the history of Ayurveda and medication creation in ancient India, as well as some of the ideas employed in drug formulation, reveals that the ancient writings may teach us a lot.
You may also want to read more about Ayurveda and Holistic Healing here.