--- Santosh Helekar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Goacom Daily News Clippings said: > > > >Ayurveda has been known to be the most researched > and reliable form > >of medicine in the world. All over the world > Ayurveda is now gaining > >recognition.... > > > > The above assertions are false. Ayurveda has not be > subjected to any > kind of scientific research at all. None of its > claims have been > shown to be reliable using any form of objective > testing methodology. > It has not been recognized as a legitimate > scientific discipline > anywhere in the world. > > Cheers, > > Santosh
My response: Neither of these positions seem to be correct. Ayurveda is not the most researched and reliable of medicine as the Goacom clipping says. But neither is it true, as Santosh says, that it has not been researched at all along the lines of either eastern or western research. The "eastern" research into the herbal medicine, diet, excercise, massage, and above all preventive medicine and rejuvenation of Ayurveda stretches back thousands of years. The effects of some 3000 herbs were documented by Indian, Chinese, Tibetan medicine. If they were not in some way effective, these treatments would have been abandoned centuries ago. Herbs were catalogued as anti-bacterial, hemostats, immune-boosting, for pregnancy and lactation, laxative, to boost sexual function etc. This was not the fiction of someone's imagination but a result of observation and testing as to their effects. The "western" type of research into Ayurveda and other ancient healing arts is going on. Books are being published on the plants from which herbs are derived, habitat, parts used, major chemical constituents, medicinal and pharmacological activities, safety profile, dosage etc. The entire field of nutritional science in the west has been profoundly influenced by studies such as those of Dr. Dean Ornish who used the Yogic diet that he learned from his Yoga teacher to reverse heart disease. Nutrition is a solid basis of Ayurveda. As a practical example of all this, I just got a few pages of Herbal supplements to use from the Alta Bates Hospital nutritional counseling class for Type II diabetes which listed many major Ayurvedic herbs, gave their effects, side effects, safety rating, risks In fact, major western pharmaceutical companies market many Ayurvedic formulas without calling them that. There is a Physician's Desk reference for Herbal Medicines. I even read that leeches are now being used by western medicine for cases of gangrene and other treatments. I think that nowadays we can no longer think of "east" and "west" in health management. There is research and testing going on in India, China, and in the west on traditional forms of healing. Filomena __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
