Diabetes and Ayurvedic Intervention Through the Lens of Metabolic Pathways

In the scope of biology, metabolism can be defined as the sum of all chemical reactions in the body that convert food into energy. While this definition is admittedly simplistic in nature, it justifiably elucidates the basic purpose of the metabolic pathways that every organism requires for life. As such, the proper functioning of the metabolic process is necessary for an organism to live healthily. Improper metabolic functioning, therefore, is the cause of many chronic illnesses. 

When metabolism functions properly, it often results in what is called a “feedback loop.” (Ye &Keller 2016). When this feedback loop works properly, the products of certain chemical reactions will travel upstream so to speak, and prevent chemical reactions from occurring earlier in the chain. The result is an extremely interconnected web that requires clear communication between its various parts. When this communication fails, side effects can occur, leading to things like disease and obesity (Ye & Keller 2016). Diabetes is a common reason for the failure of the body to be able to properly regulate metabolism and, as such, can be a very debilitating and chronic disease.

Diabetes is the inability of the body to move sugar, in the form of glucose, from the bloodstream and into the cells. This results in high blood glucose levels in diabetic individuals, and an inability for those individuals to perform glycolysis, an early step in the metabolic pathway that turns sugars into energy-rich ATP. Halting this process at this step breaks the inter-connected chain of the metabolic process, resulting in its failure.

Ayurveda is defined by John’s Hopkins University to be “based on the idea that disease is due to an imbalance or stress in a person's consciousness.” As such,  “Ayurveda encourages certain lifestyle interventions and natural therapies to regain a balance between the body, mind, spirit, and the environment.” Seeing as metabolic functioning is similarly reliant on proper connections between metabolic constituents, ayurveda as an ideology can therefore hypothetically be utilized to influence the body to allow metabolism to function properly.

Ayurveda is not focused solely on the connections between various parts of the body, though. Ayurveda also focuses on connections between the mind, spirit, and body together in an individual, as well as connecting an individual with their surroundings, allowing the individual to rely on more than just themselves or a medication to help them live healthily. This is especially applicable in treating something like diabetes. Strengthening the connections between the mind, spirit, and body can give an individual greater control over how their body processes glucose, while connecting the individual to their environment can give them the support and motivation that they need in order to continue to improve their health.

The issue with ayurveda, however, comes from a general lack of proof and understanding of its efficacy. While ayurveda is considered one of the oldest methods of treatment in human history, there has been little work done to understand its implications to modern medicine. According to the National Institutes of Health, there have been several studies performed on the efficacy of Ayurveda, but none have had the proper scale to form any conclusive results. They have shown that Ayurveda can be helpful in treating osteoarthritis and in managing symptoms of type 2 diabetes; however, in order to effectively say that there is any true, lasting benefit to Ayurveda, there needs to first be more extensive research done into its efficacy.

This need to further investigate the efficacy of ayurveda is also supported by the “Journal of Ethnopharmacology” which published a study in 2017 that “aimed to explore the various aspects of Ayurveda and inspired drug discovery approaches for its promotion and development.” The researchers found that there was still a lack of quality scientific backing to ayurveda treatment’s efficacy that is still needed before ayurveda can truly be accepted widely. I agree that there should be more research done into the efficacy of Ayurveda, and the aspects that were put forth in this article are a good place to start. By doing so, the scope of ayurvedic treatments can be expanded, therefore allowing its potential to treat metabolic imbalances to be better understood and utilized.