Ayurvedic & Herbal Products

Ayurveda has a 5,000-year history and is considered to be the oldest healing science by many scholars. This holistic health-care approach is meant to help people live healthy and well-balanced lives. Ayurvedic theory is based on the belief that disease comes from imbalance in doshas, or energy types, in the body, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Practitioners often prescribe herbs to maintain balance or to correct imbalances.

Types

There are more than 20 types of treatment prescribed by Ayurvedic practitioners. Herbal medicines often are prescribed outright to restore a person's dosha balance. Many other remedies incorporate herbs, according to UMMC. The most common are pancha karma, or cleansing the body by causing bowel movements, sweat or vomiting to remove toxins in the body; abhyanga, or rubbing skin with herbal oil to draw toxins out via skin and increase blood circulation; and rasayana, or use of mantras during meditation in combination with herbs meant to rejuvenate people. Ayurvedic medicine groups plant compounds into categories based on their effects. Plants may be considered aids for relieving pain, healing or promoting vitality, for example, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Significance

Ayurvedic practitioners rely heavily on herbs, with more than 600 herbal formulas as well as 250 single plant drugs included in the Ayurvedic "pharmacy" of treatments, according to NCCAM. Ayurvedic treatment can vary because it is tailored to each person's constitution.

Potential

While quality studies are few, some Ayurvedic herbal remedies show promise. The traditional Ayurvedic medication for high cholesterol, guggul, may lower cholesterol levels by blocking production of cholesterol in the liver. Meanwhile, fenugreek seeds may lower LDL "bad" cholesterol while raising HDL "good" cholesterol levels by lowering absorption of cholesterol in the intestine, according to UMMC. Unfortunately, NCCAM reports that most clinical trials have research design problems, have been small, lack appropriate control groups or suffer other issues that impact how meaningful results are.

Warning

Buyers need to beware when purchasing Ayurvedic herb supplements, advises NCCAM. A 2005 study conducted by the agency found that almost 21 percent of Ayurvedic medicines available via Internet sales contained lead, arsenic or mercury, despite the fact that manufacturers of 75 percent of the toxic metal-containing products claimed to use metal testing or Good Manufacturing Practices. Sometimes metals are deliberately incorporated in Ayurvedic medicines as part of rasa shastra. This practice combines herbs with minerals, gems and metals. NCCAM found that rasa shastra products are more than twice as likely as non-rasa shastra products to contain metals. In fact, some rasa shastra medicines from India potentially result in mercury and lead ingestion that's 100 to 10,000 times greater than acceptable limits. This raises concern about metal intoxication.

Considerations

UMMC recommends that people talk with a health-care provider before using any Ayurvedic herbs. Such herbs can interact with some medications. Ayurvedic medications also have potential for being toxic. NCCAM advises that "natural" does not always equate with "safe." For example, some herbs can damage your liver. Also, herbal compounds that have a host of ingredients may have active ingredients are not identified on the product's label, or levels of active ingredients that are inconsistent with labeling information.