Amandine Venisch
Dr. Karpel
BIOL 4500
Metabolism
Ayurveda and Diabetes
Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine, it originated in India about 6000 years ago and focus on the individual as a whole and the connection between the body and its environment. It embraces the idea of a connection between different parts of the body as well as a connection with our environment. For my research however, I mostly focused on the nutrition/healing part of Ayurveda as more research has been done on this subject comparing to the connectivity mind-body and environment, as it is harder to do a research project on this subject.
The effectiveness of Ayurveda is controversial subject in the scientific community. Many scientific articles claims its efficacy to treat different diseases using different Ayurvedic herbs, for example this article, titled “Clinical efficacy of Ayurveda treatment regimen on Subfertility with poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)” written by Siriwardene and al., that claims 85% of women with PCOS were cured after this Ayurvedic treatment. On the other hand, multiple article also talks about the problem of regulation of some Ayurveda herbs, as there are a vast amounts of different herbs in Ayurveda, it is difficult these days to confirm the origin and the authenticity of the product that is sold as Ayurvedic treatments. This could also be a problem for scientific studies as it is impossible to prove the effectiveness of these treatments without product regulation. In my opinion, it is a very interesting approach to medicine, and there may be some very effective treatments that we could find from Ayurveda, but we definitely need regulation and more studies on the subject!
The second subject of research was diabetes, a very well known disease that is affecting millions of people worldwide. As we know, diabetes affects the Human body in many ways, from serious damage to the eyes to liver diseases and even death. Before modern medicine, records show that most diabetes patients (about 90%) turned blind without an effective treatment. Today, people affected by diabetes have a normal life and effective treatments are available to treat the disease, but diabetes also have a huge economic impact on someone’s life, as insulin prices tripled in the last ten years, and could be economically devastating for people on limited income.
Prevention and getting children and adults more active has been a big thing in numerous different countries to reduce the rising occurrence of diabetes. In this article, written by Lindström and al. on the prevention of diabetes called “Sustained reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle intervention: follow-up of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study”, more than 500 men and women were followed for up to 7 years and randomly assigned either diet, exercise, or diet+exercise, and also a control group. Results showed a decrease of type two diabetes by 31%, 46% and 42% respectively. The findings of this study is reinforcing the idea of diet, and exercising being a huge part of reducing the risks for diabetes, and a good hygiene of life, a balanced diet and a moderate amount of exercise can significantly decrease health risks and can overall increase the quality of life.
Diabetes were discovered in the late 1890, early 1900, this is a very short time and today, we understand diabetes better than ever before, but a lot more research needs to be done to find a lifelong remedy that could maybe prevent or cure both types of diabetes. Until then, a good diet, regular physical exercise and an overall good hygiene of life is essential if we want to reduce the growth of diabetes.
References
Siriwardene, S. D., Karunathilaka, L. A., Kodituwakku, N. D., & Karunarathne, Y. A. U. D. (2010). Clinical efficacy of Ayurveda treatment regimen on Subfertility with poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Ayu, 31(1), 24.
Lindström, J., Ilanne-Parikka, P., Peltonen, M., Aunola, S., Eriksson, J. G., Hemiö, K., ... & Louheranta, A. (2006). Sustained reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes by lifestyle intervention: follow-up of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study. The Lancet, 368(9548), 1673-1679.
I found your discussion of the issues with using natural herbs, as are used in traditional Ayurveda, interesting. I have a bowel disorder, and I wasn't getting any relief from any of the medications I tried for a specific symptom.I found a few studies in which peppermint capsules had been used to treat colonic spasms successfully in some people. They work good for me and I love that there are no side effects from taking these. But like you said, many herbs are not regulated or approved by the FDA, so it is hard to know what is actually in the pill that you buy, and they can't be recommended by physicians. I think that more placebo controlled double blind studies in herbs and natural remedies that show promise would help to increase the number of options have for safely and effectively treating symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned that exercise is good for preventing diabetes. Many people forget that diabetes is a reversible disease because people's lifestyles are so irreversible. I think Ayurveda is hard to regulate because there are people who are immersed within the culture and people who just want to make money. The people who want to make money dilute the market with bad products. Also, a lot of people are just finding about Ayurveda and the novelty of it makes it hard to regulate. When HIV pandemic became worldwide, there was a surplus of fake HIV medication because the disease was so new and it was hard to determine what was fake or real.
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