Ayurvedic rather than a fatal birth control

[Guest guest]

>

> If one is so particular about "pseudo-scientific research" supporting

> the trust on a herbal formula author recommends:

>

> An article on using neem oil for birth control, with proper online

> scientific references can be found on:

>

> http://www.sisterzeus.com/neem.html

>

 

the major problem is that the majority of studies cited are animal

studies, using rats, rabbits and monkeys, and cannot necessarily be

extrapolated for use in humans

however, out of all the herbal contraceptives, neem indeed seems the

most promising

 

last i heard neem was slated to undergo phase II clinical trials in

India, but the original phase I trials didn't look at its

contraceptive effects, but rather explored its safety in HIV-infected

women

 

see: Joshi SN, Katti U, Godbole S, Bharucha K, B KK, Kulkarni S,

Risbud A, Mehendale S. 2005. Phase I safety study of Praneem

polyherbal vaginal tablet use among HIV-uninfected women in Pune,

India. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Oct;99(10):769-74.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16084547&query_hl=4&i

tool=pubmed_docsum

 

some of the other studies looked at the use of neem oil as a

spermicide, but there are some problems with neem oil, which smells

pretty bad, is quite sticky and messy, and i suspect might not have a

high compliance factor (at least among westerners...) (its use might

be enough to secure abstinence in some!)

 

the sister zeus article also discusses the efficacy of a hexane

extract of neem - hexane of course is a toxic solvent, and a mutagen,

teratogen, neurotoxin etc, and should be avoided in favor of newer

products such as the supercritical extracts of neem that are now in

the marketplace

 

lastly, the article also mentions the study on Indian soldiers

however, Vietmeyer (1992) citation is from a secondary source

(Vietmeyer N. Neem, A Tree for Solving Global Problems. National

Academy Press. Washington DC. 1992.), and so its difficult to assess

the accuracy of the article - probably the original is available in

Hindi somewhere, and i would like to see it, because nothing can be

found on Pubmed

 

>

> The ancient texts mention several other ways of contraception using

> herbs alone. Author found at least 60 more herbal receipes but none

> as easy as turmeric + honey.

 

i don't know about other vaidyas, but i would need to see a number

successful case history studies that track the success of this

treatment over a significant period of time (> year) - ideally this

should be published in some kind of peer-reviewed journal (many such

journals exist) so the methods and conclusions can be objectively

analyzed

 

its fine to make some claim, but if it is to be believed there needs

to be some kind of evidence to back it up, particularly when we are

contemplating an unplanned pregnancy

 

 

best... todd

Caldecott

todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

www.toddcaldecott.com

[Guest guest]

>

> last i heard neem was slated to undergo phase II clinical trials in

> India, but the original phase I trials didn't look at its

> contraceptive effects, but rather explored its safety in HIV-

> infected women

 

sorry, meant "HIV-uninfected"

 

>

> see: Joshi SN, Katti U, Godbole S, Bharucha K, B KK, Kulkarni S,

> Risbud A, Mehendale S. 2005. Phase I safety study of Praneem

> polyherbal vaginal tablet use among HIV-uninfected women in Pune,

> India. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2005 Oct;99(10):769-74.

Caldecott

todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

www.toddcaldecott.com