| "Ayurveda research: prevention and cure in a natural way" |
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I
am delighted to participate in the Inauguration of the Vaidyaratnam
Ayurveda Museum at Thaikkattusseri. My greetings to Ashtavaidyan
Narayanan Mooss and the Doctors, medical professionals, healthcare
specialists, practitioners of Ayurveda, paramedical staff, students and
distinguished guests on this occasion. I hope that you all know, the
history of Vaidyarathnam Oushdhasala which got its title in 1924 from
Britishers and their noble services in the field of Ayurvedic medicines.
It is indeed very important to preserve the rich and varied tradition
of Ayurveda by creating a museum to exhibit the unparalleled knowledge
of Ayurveda through the valuable literatures, scriptures and manuscripts
from traditional ayurveda. Keeping all the ancient scriptures in
digital format will be an added advantage. I am very happy to see the
museum building set up with a Saraswathi Mandapam in a traditional way.
In addition I understand Vaidyaratnam Oushadasala has a well equipped
R&D Lab to monitor the production and standardization of Ayurvedic
medicines along with Drug research, clinical research and pharma
research with modern equipments. I appreciate the initiative of the
Vaidyaratnam group?s service to the society by conducting medical camps,
pain and palliative clinics. I am sure soon this Museum will become an
important attractive destination for tourists from India and abroad,
and it will contribute to Medical Tourism in Kerala. My greetings to all
of you. In this ambience, let me talk a few minutes on the topic "Ayurveda research: prevention and cure in a natural way".
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| Health: It's pivotal role in development |
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Our
young India with 1.25 billion population of which 50% below the age of
30 years need to be transformed as a valuable asset by providing them
adequate healthcare, education and occupation. This human resource will
then transform India into a developed nation. The healthcare delivery
cannot depend only on the Allopathic healthcare but need to harness the
time tested Indian traditional systems of medicines, including Ayurveda.
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India
was a knowledge power a few thousands years ago, giving to the world
Vedas, Upanishad, Bhagavat Gita, Yoga and Ayurveda. Before the
evolution of the Allopathic healthcare system, our people in India
relied on Ayurveda for a few thousands of years. Ayurveda is a Science
and Art. Its practitioners focused on holistic healthcare through Mind,
Body and Soul approach. It is time for us to place this ancient
science and medical practice on a scientific pedestal.
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| Ayurveda a best form of prevention of disease |
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Ayurveda's
basic foundation is consciousness and holistic approach to healthcare.
Consciousness is unbounded and infinite which creates those vibrations,
which are the laws of nature. These laws of nature are structured in
consciousness, they are not man-made. They are eternal, and they are
everywhere as quantum knowledge. These laws of nature function through
the structure of DNA through different species. All DNA is basically
the same, the same four base pairs that repeat themselves. But the
majority of DNA is not active. The part which is active is expressed
through these laws of nature, through these vibrations. This will be
different in different species. Then, as the consciousness is charging
up the DNA, what happens? These vibrations, or fluctuations of
consciousness, get materialized. That ultimately produces the body,
whether it is an animal body, or plant body, or human body or the
planets, the cosmos, or whatever.
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Now,
in the human body, different laws of nature materialize at different
rates, and that creates different organ systems like liver, or kidney.
Each one of them is working at a different vibration. If these
vibrations are distorted, and they are not in the right frequency,
either due to psychic disturbances in the mind, or due to food, drink,
the environment, or other influences, it distorts the vibrations of
these organs. When the vibrations do not work properly the structure
which was originally formed has different vibrations. Now it is not
working at the same vibration, and hence it is diseased.
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Health
can be maintained and disease can be prevented. Though technology is
advancing, people are still falling sick. Health care costs keep on
increasing, and there is no way to reduce that unless you introduce
prevention. The best prevention is through Ayurveda, because it is a
very comprehensive system, since it is based on natural medicine, which
is devoid of toxicity. It is indeed a challenge to Ayurveda.
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Even the Tamil Poet Thiruvalluvar mentions about prevention of disease in a Kural written 2000 years ago:
"Marundena Venda Mantharku
Arundhiyathu attru unnin"
மருந்தன வேண்டா மாந்தர்க்கு
அருந்தியது அற்று உணின்
That
means You don't need any medicine provided you eat to your appetite and
also the right kind of food after it is fully digested. |
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Hence,
the challenge before us is, how Ayurveda can be used to prevent the
diseases by understanding the disease pattern, its genetic basis and its
DNA structure by carrying out integrated research with the modern
biotechnology, genomics and proteomics methods and tools on medicinal
and aromatic plants so that appropriate medicinal formulation can be
evolved in the form of drugs to prevent the major diseases from the
childhood or even from the mother's womb. Let me now analyze various
possibilities of research and development in the field of herbal
products.
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| Medicinal and aromatic plants |
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India
has a valuable repository of medicinal and aromatic plants and rich
biodiversity with hot spots in North East and Western Ghats. More than
45000 species of herbs most of them having medicinal properties exist in
our country.
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Medicinal
and aromatic plants are emerging as the new opportunities of
entrepreneurship for farmers and have become the resource for drugs,
flavor and fragrances for pharma and aroma industries. The molecules
responsible for aroma or drug activities are produced in these plants as
secondary metabolites. Therefore, the understanding of metabolic
pathways in these plants becomes a necessity to create useful genotypes.
Such approaches which can lead to understanding of the complete
network of metabolic pathways in the plant are referred as
meta-bolomics. This approach enables increased production of desired
molecule (drug) through nature's route (the plant). Desirable
recombinants are obtained to produce the required nutrition, drug, trait
(character) through plant system which eliminates synthetic way of
production. This would facilitate organic mode of production or
multiplication of important drugs. By using plant Genomics knowledge
new types of plants with desired traits need to be available to serve
the society without adverse effects on the environment.
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| Bio-factories |
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'Plant
Genomics' is the new emerging area of research, which deals with
functional and structural definition of genes both in terms of their
location in the genome and their expression for defining the precise
regulation to control the whole metabolism. Thus this field opens up new
avenues to modulate the gene expression in such a way that plants can
be converted into proficient genotypes or varieties to be used as the
bio-factories producing useful proteins, therapeutic molecules,
nutritional compositions, and stress tolerant varieties to meet the
current and futuristic requirement of the society in eco-environment
friendly manner.
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| Genomic Research to reinforce traditional medicine |
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Unlike
the western agricultural system, the Indian food chain had health as an
important component in herbal medicine like turmeric, neem, pepper,
garlic etc., but due to the scientific process of evolving allopathy
medicine facing extreme competition in India, our medicinal plants have
resurfaced from the western source through systematic scientific
processing, packaging and marketing. The Plant genome researchers can
study these plants and genomic signature which will enable us to patent
these plants for medicinal use with adequate protection of intellectual
property rights. You are already aware of the struggle India has to
face on the neem patenting rights. At this juncture I like to
compliment CSIR for placing Traditional Knowledge of Ayurveda as open
source for the benefit of Mankind.
Now let me talk to you how a key plant molecule helps in combating cerebral malaria.
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| Combating Cerebral Malaria by Arte-misia annua |
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Arte-mi-si-nin
is the key plant molecule, derived from the plant Arte-mi-sia annua
which is presently the most effective alternative when the malarial
infection takes place due to chloroquine resistant parasite Plasmodium
falciparum. The demand of this drug is on a continuous rise and
currently not even 50% of the drug demand world wide can be fulfilled
mainly because of non-availability of raw materials (plant herb, the
source of drug molecule). Around 500 million cases of malaria are
reported each year in the world and result in loss of human lives. The
manufacturers of arte-misinin derivatives (the drug) in India have been
presently importing arte-misinin from international sources like China
& Vietnam but the non-availability of raw materials has forced
Indian industry to seriously think of cultivation of this crop
indigenously for self reliance. But till recently no variety with high
arte-mi-si-nin was available in India.
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'CIM-Arogya'
developed by CIMAP is a true product of molecular breeding leading to
genetic enhancement of meta-bo-lite through pathway engineering. CIMAP
technology package from cultivation to processing is providing
competitive advantage to the industry to meet the global demand of
artemisinin. The availability of the drug developed on the CIMAP
technology will provide a powerful tool towards eradication of malaria
in India and other third world countries through eco-scale greener means
of plant derived bio-molecules. It is estimated that in the coming two
years with the seed now produced for genotype CIM-Arogya, India will be
able to assume leadership position in the world for production of
artemisinin based anti-malarial drugs for malaria free world while
enabling farmers to double their farm income.
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| Herbal Research for Soldier's health |
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When
I was the Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister in DRDO, we launched a
major R&D programme on "Herbs for Soldier's Health" and coded this
activity as Programme "Charaka". Many new herbal extracts were
developed into Nutraceutical products and herbal remedies for soldiers
and the society. Some of these products include: Leh Berry juice as
anti-oxidant beverage from Seabuckthorn (Hippophe Rhamnoides) for
facilitating high altitude acclimatization; Aloe vera cream for
prevention and treatment of cold injuries (frostbite), herbal adjuvant
and immunomodulator from Amla and Shankpushpi. A composite Indian
Herbal preparation (CIHP) was also developed as a basket of ten herbs
and evaluated through a randomized double blind placebo controlled study
on about 4000 soldiers at High Altitude. It was found to be effective
in amelioration of High Altitude maladies.
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| Genomic Research on Ayurveda |
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Institute
of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), a CSIR Lab carried out an
interesting research study to correlate the patterns of genomic profiles
into three Prakritis and Trigunas. Very good correlation emerged from
this study indicating the scientific rationale of Ayurveda.
Pharmacogenomics or customized medicine for individuals concept recently
being discussed in Modern Medicine already existed in Ayurveda as for
the same type of ailments Ayurveda administers specific medicine
optimizing dosage suitable to the Prakriti of the individual.
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| Demand for herbal products |
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Particularly,
in the herbal area there are potential applications for developing
multiple products for nutrition, prevention and cure of diseases. On the
whole, India is stated to have 45,000 plant species. Out of these,
about 3,500 species are of medicinal value. Harnessing this potential,
according to experts, will not only boost our exports but also go a long
way in the development of dry land agriculture in the country. The
demand for medicinal plants is increasing everyday. The World Health
Organization (WHO) has projected the global market for herbal products
are estimated to increase to US$200 billion in 2008 and US$5 trillion in
2050.
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Of
the global herbal product market of US$ 80 billion, China has a share
of around US $ 6 to 7 billion, whereas India?s share is not even US $
One billion. There are tremendous opportunities for growth in this area.
India has similar potential for promoting floriculture and aquaculture
in a big way. Knowledge-based value addition for these natural resources
would mean exporting value-added products rather than merely the raw
materials. Ancient knowledge is a unique resource of India for it has
the treasure of a minimum of 5000 years of civilization. It is essential
to leverage this wealth for national well being as well as to seek
global presence for the nation. To achieve a considerable share in the
world market, we need to place Ayurveda on a scientific pedestal.
Rigorous research using phytochemistry, bio efficacy and safety
evaluation, and adopting GLP and GMP in experimentation and manufacture
of herbal drugs will be essential combined with adequate marketing
strategies.
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| Conclusion |
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Ultimately,
prevention is better than cure. Ayurveda?s basic foundation is
consciousness. "Consciousness" primarily means moral conscience.
Conscience is the light of the Soul that burns within the chambers of
our psychological heart. It is as real as life is. It raises the voice
in protest whenever anything is thought of or done contrary to the
righteousness. Conscience is a form of truth that has been transferred
through our genetic stock in the form of the knowledge of our own acts
and feelings as right or wrong. When you keep conscience clear,
righteousness will prevail upon you.
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Righteousness in the heart
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is an order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.
For
achieving peace in the world the starting point is righteousness. Who
will give righteousness in the heart, only three people can give, who
are they? Father, mother and primary school teacher. Hence, for leading
good quality and healthy life, again righteousness in the heart is
essential. So, dear friends, all human sufferings start whether it is
mind or body, when you deviate from righteousness. It is our duty to
uphold righteousness in all our minds. |
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When
you are all in the mission of removing the pain of people through
Ayurveda, it is essential to work for creating enlightened citizens
respecting their conscience, leading to disease free world.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu - May All living beings in all the worlds be happy.
Let me conclude with a quote from Charaka Samhita :
"Health is known as Happiness, while disorder is Unhappiness"
My best wishes and May God bless you.
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