Capsules and modern ayurvedic medicines

February 2, 2007

> I am not sure I agree. Already the amount that can

> fit into a capsule is so little.

If the capsule that is under discussion here is made from Brahmi

Ghansatva, the amount needed is also very little. The

miniaturisation process used to convert large volume of Brahmi

powder into medically equivalent small volume solid powder is

described at:

http://ayurveda-foryou.com/treat/ghanasatwa.html

where you can find that by going to next page at above link that

even Brahmi Tablet is available. The process removes enzymes in

original brahmi plant but preserves water soluble and less volatile

chemicals in Brahmi. Though such medicines are claimed to have

higher bio-availability and faster cures, this author feels that

slower cure through less bio-available medicne gives better

opportunity to adjust dosage and consumes less prana of the body.

Every medicine reduces prana to some extent, the only exception

being naturopathy.

> Mixed with a lot of

> preservatives how much brahmi are we getting?

Preservatives are not needed in this case, since decomposable matter

(by fungus etc) is already lost to atmosphere in the making process.

> I also do not beleive that chemicals can preserve the

> healing qualities of any herb. These chemicals can

> not be good for our health and in fact many people are

> allergic to them.

True. Agree 100% Hence do not use amala squashes, aloe vera gels etc

readily available in market. Plant aloe vera in balcony.

>

> Honey and ghee are good natural preservatives.

> Chemical fillers and preservatives are ceated by our

> current society.

>

> The sages of yore knew better how to preserve herbs

> than we can even attempt to do today with chemicals.

> Vaidyas for cneturies have been making pills without

> adding any chemicals to preserve them. Why do we need

> to start this now?

Many orthodox vaidyas make their own chyvanprash, amalki rasayan

etc. Even powder mixtures to suit every individual. This type of

practice is possible at district places, smaller towns where plenty

of time is available. Even patients can be given some work to make

medicine. Unfortunately, todays patient wants pill, ready to swallow

and attractively packed, labelled product. Pharmacies have been

copying western drug pharma models. Who likes hand written labels,

plain bottles or paper bags, elaborate medicine procedures. Practice

differs a lot in metros and villages. Villages still have the flavor

of ancient ayurveda. Very few city MDs would like to carry out the

village style practice. This is all allopathy influence,

unfortunately!

The cure does not require machine made tablets or capsules untouched

by human hands in hygeinic environment, colored labels,

advertisements and hefty selling commissions. The way Idli batter

ground in traditional stone gives fluffy Idlis due to the

adulteration by sweat of the hand which did the job, the medicine

made personally by Vaidya is charged by Vaidya's "satwa guna" and

even if it has baceteria and microbes, they are nothing but

helpful "probiotics"!

The capsules and machine made tablets are all "westernized"

ayurveda! They may have required chemicals but not the blessings of

a healer. The way cold pressed unfiltered oil has maximum nutrients

as compared to double filtered, clear transparent bleached vegetable

oil, hand made medicines have higher medicinal values. But then

Uncle sam will not allow import of such unhygenic, plane label, non

FDA approved medicines. How will you get medicines in NewYork and

Canada? Today some Rs 40/- worth medicine shoots up to Rs 400/-

price once it is made in ISO9001 certified Inc. Anyway, we have to

pay the price of "germ theory".

February 3, 2007

Dear Dr. Bhate,

I respect your emotions for the Ayurvedic system of medicine and am also of the opinion cited by you. Definitely ghee and honey are very good preservatives and for sure a capsule, whichever size it is, is not adequate for most of the crude powers in the advocated dosage. But sir, we are living in the times when every one wants -

Convenience, Evidence about the safety and efficacy in the language that they understand, Easy availability(Vaidyas included).

If you can think back about 15 yrs. may be you would recall that it was the patent granted "abroad" that made our govt. suddenly realize that we have some thing wonderful called "Ayurveda" right here.

Its no use singing songs about our detoxification processes eliminating the bad effects of all the metals, till we can prove with scientific in-vitro and in-vivo studies to the big brothers that yes the ayurvedic medicines are safe even if they are having heavy metals as ingredients.

And you have to accept that they are the big brothers becoz they ask questions and we have to prove to them.

This alone will make "uncle sam" (cited by yourself) to allow the medicines to be used as medicines, not as supplements.

We are not living in the ancient times when vaidya was a one man establishment being -

Physician, Procurer, Pharmacist, Manufacturer, Dispenser etc. etc. But unfortunately, this is a time of super specialization.

Today we have to depend on the raw material supplier for procuring; to some extent to pharmacies also b coz we cant probably manufacture all that we require all the time, modern techniques of diagnosis, modern drug dosage forms for those of our patients who dont readily agree with the traditional dosage forms etc.

Perhaps it is our reluctance to adopt and adapt that has made us lag behind in the race and being labelled as "Alternative System of Medicine". In modern world and in order to make this the "Preferred system of Medicine", we have to undergo the process of change, adopting and adapting as well. We have already seen what happened by not doing so.

So, if we think rationally, we will get over emotions and surely think about the convenience of dosage forms at least.

Even Carak Samhita leaves a scope to further research saying that this is not the end of ayurvedic wisdom.

Best of Regards,

Dr. Sanjay Sharma - M.D. (Ayurveda)

Shirish Bhate <shirishbhate > wrote:

<snip>

The cure does not require machine made tablets or capsules untouched

by human hands in hygeinic environment, colored labels,

advertisements and hefty selling commissions.....