Ayurvedic Pharmacology

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

As an ex-biochemist/molecular biologist researcher one of the most

intriguing pharmacology problems is that of herbal and pharmaceutical

drug metabolism.

 

The liver is always regarded as the "first pass" for the route of

administration with oral medication. At this stage Phase 1 Metabolism

i.e. oxidation, reduction, demethylation etc occurs here, followed by

Phase 2 notably the conjugation of the derivatives.

 

Many patients on most long-term pharmaceutical medication will have

some degree of hepatic damage often this is not detected by normal

medical test. For instance, when I diagnose the patients using "Nadi

Vigyan Nabhi" diagnosis, often the Liver shows up as the organ of

malfunction, which possibly indicates some liver toxicity and/ or

medication overload, this is often the case with anti-depressants and

ant-psychotics.

 

This observation is not only true for pharmaceutical medication, but

also for herbal medications mainly Vitamins and a few (strong)

Chinese herbs. For example, there are several Homeopaths in the UK

who administer Vitamins (IntraVenous) to mainly chronic cases this

always shows up as Liver in "Nabhi diagnosis" and Pulse diagnosis.

 

My questions to the Vaidyas are;

 

1) Do Ayurvedic herbs only target the relevant Dhatus and Srotas and

by-pass the Liver?

 

2) If the above is correct is there a published scientific study?

 

3) From the western perspective, if the herb is administered via the

oral route then the "first pass" would be the Liver, so does the

above Phase 1 & 2 metabolism occur via interaction of the "Liver

Agnis"?

 

4) Perhaps the above Liver interactions are not playing a role in

mode of action of Ayurvedic herbs, and only the Vipaka of the herbs

though the GI tract and the concomitant effect is the only

significant factor together with the Prabhava and Cosmic forces .If

GI processing is the relevant mode of action, have there been any

studies published by Ayurvedic herbal companies etc to show that

Liver enzymes/ GI enzymes changes the Ayurvedic herb in any way?

 

4) (Todd) In what way do Western herbs and Chinese herbs differ in

mode of action from Ayurvedic herbs. Do synthetic vitamins have any

adverse effects on the body?

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Ray S Noronha

Clinical Ayurveda Practitioner

Nadi Vigyan Practitioner

Member of the Unified Register of Herbal Practitioners (UK)

[Guest guest]

hi Ray

 

there is no difference between Ayurvedic, Chinese and Western herbs

except with respective to their usage in each system - Ayurvedic,

Chinese and Western herbal medicine all have their share of toxic and

benign herbs - for e.g. Dhatura and Henbane are both used Ayurvedic and

Western herbalists, and both are quite toxic and must be used with care

- God has given this world of plants to use as our own, and there is no

difference between them except in our understanding - in summation,

there is no such thing as an Ayurvedic herb, only a herb used with an

Ayurvedic intent

 

the system of classifying herbs is always an artificial process- it

describes the general perceptions of the author, hopefully based on

real experience and not just theoretical musings, but it never

represents the whole range of possibilities and sometimes creates a

very limited perception of a particular herb - this is why one herb is

used in one way over here and another way over there, and why there are

disagreements between the specific effects of each herb, even within

the Ayurvedic nighantus - remember, nature does not write the texts:

humans do

 

as far as herbs targeting specific dhatus or srotas, yes, this is the

understanding in Ayurveda but I am afraid you will paint yourself into

a intellectual corner if you try to equate the rationale of

ksheeradadhi (transformation), khalekaopta (selectivity) and

kedaarikulyaa (irritgation) with the specifics of hepatic function -

rather, the Ayurvedic rationale is based on the observed effects that

herbs have on an Ayurvedic understanding of the body, not from a

detailed scientific understanding of digestion and metabolism (which by

the way, does not mean that either are not valid)

 

but why is it that we need to assess Ayurveda on the basis of foreign

systems? Ayurveda is stated to be complete and whole, so why must we

try to rationalize it in terms of western science? to my mind its like

trying to prepare an orange in different ways to get it to taste like

an apple, when the apple tree is already there...

 

> . Do synthetic vitamins have any

> adverse effects on the body?

 

as an ex-biochemist i am sure you are probably aware that synthetic

vitamins are often of a different isomeric conformation (e.g. d-aplha

tocopheral vs. dl-alpha), and can be metabolized differently and may

have different effects - however, some like vitamin C are identical to

natural source, so i hesitate to make blanket statements

 

generally speaking, all vitamins have co-factors that enhance their

absorption or support their activities - thus a natural source vitamin

C with flavonoids is more effective because the flavonoids enhance the

antioxidant power of the vitamin C

 

regardless of their benefits, intravenous vitamin therapy is invasive

in nature and should not be routine therapy in anybody except those

that suffer from severe nutrient deficiencies - anyway, why are

homeopaths recommending this therapy? how are they able to do this,

legally? and what happened to using homeopathic remedies?? ol' doc

Hahnemann must be spinning in his grave...

 

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

 

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public

relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."

-Richard P. Feynman