On 18 May 2024, Seniors Today hosted their weekly Health Live webinar with Dr Monica B Sood who spoke on and answered questions about How safe are Ayurvedic Medicine? Facts, Myths and Impact.
About Dr Monica B Sood
Dr Monica B. Sood is a qualified physician in Ayurvedic medicine and surgery, an MBA in Human Resources, International Business and Law. She has completed a course in Cancer Metastasis from the John Hopkins University, USA and Thoracic Oncology from Michigan University.
An award winning doctor,, Dr Sood is Managing Director of the 101-year-old Navjivan Group, a leading company dealing with Ayurvedic pharma and health care.
Ayurveda is a science of life which means that we have to keep ourselves healthy within our body and mind- which integrates physical and psychological health together. Ayurveda has been practicing psychology and counselling for the last 5,000 years.
Ayurveda originated in India and it is based on 3 principles which are different from the western medical science. And these 3 major principles or ayurveda are:
- Vata
- Pitta
- Kapha
These principles constitute our body i.e. it is on the basis of these principles that our body functions.
Ayurveda speaks about how you can take care of your health naturally. It does not necessarily mean that you have to entirely be dependent on the medication, mineral/ herb based medicine.
In our daily routine we can bring about necessary lifestyle modifications and insulate ayurveda into our lives.
Recently we have come across many cases wherein individuals have reported toxicity- either to the liver or kidney, when undergoing ayurvedic treatment. It is also a well asked question by allopathic doctors to inquire if the patient has taken any ayurvedic treatment in the past or current/ ongoing treatment. This is because according to the FDA ayurvedic medicines include metals and minerals. But don’t we find ourselves taking more iron when we are anaemic? Similar, ayurveda and ayurvedic medicines also have minerals and metals that help you in getting the benefits of certain vitamins and minerals.
If you are suffering from a chronic and non emergent medical condition- such as diabetes, hypertension, etc., your treatment will also be a gradual and chronic one. Thus, when you go to an ayurvedic doctor for the treatment of such chronic and non emergent medical conditions you have to be careful and check the medications you are being prescribed.
The preparation of ayurvedic medication has been written in our shastras. But at the same time, there are few people and pharmaceutical companies that do not adhere to rituals and the set standards of ayurvedic medicine preparation.
This means that when buying your prescription medicines, they should be bought from authentic pharmaceutical company names which have a proper manufacturing licence and one which has the composition of the medicine clearly mentioned including the quantity and quality of the items used.
The FDA says that metals and minerals are not good for our health, but in ayurveda these metals and minerals are clarified and purified in a proper way, according to our shastras- and then these medicines are manufactured and compounded- making these medicines a boon for your and your body.
If we compare the western medical science with ayurveda, it is true that there are many medicines in the western medical science which have side effects, and similarly ayurvedic medicines when taken for a long duration without a proper prescription, from an improper manufacturer and not adequate supervision of a ayurvedic practitioner can also produce side effects.
Glucosamine sulphate is an ayurvedic product which has proven to have greater benefits for osteoarthritis.
Similarly, another steroid- methotrexate- a drug used in western medicine- when administered to a patient with osteoarthritis v/s another ayurvedic product which was propounded with 40 ingredients had similar benefits without the side effects of methotrexate which is an immunosuppressant drug.
Likewise, for diabetes mellitus, there is a medicine with 5 ingredients which is used in ayurvedic practice which gives the patient the necessary benefits without the side effects.
Ayurveda was never unsafe, but the preparation of ayurvedic medicines and the practices for the preparations, when not done correctly, can be unsafe.
Myth: vegetarians have the best health and are the only ones that are greatly benefitted by ayurvedic treatments
Fact: you can have a mixed/ jaini/ non vegetarian diet and still reap the same benefits from ayurvedic medicine
Myth: Ayurvedic treatments have no side effects
Fact: Ayurvedic treatments, too, have side effects.
Careful preparation, clarification and purification of the ingredients is necessary to avoid detrimental side effects.
Myth: Ayurvedic medicines do not expire
Fact: All medicines, including ayurvedic medicines have a shelf life –
because they do not have added preservatives. But in certain medicines in ayurveda, if the medicine has a longer shelf life, and is consumed after the constituents of the medicine have fermented, they will reap greater benefits.
Myth: Ayurveda only uses natural ingredients
Fact: Ayurvedic medicines do use natural ingredients, but not all ingredients are nature base/ sourced.
