Ayurvedic versus Herbal medicines

Ayurvedic versus Herbal medicines

Most of us have some amount of confusion between the terms Ayurvedic and Herbal medicines. Both are very similar, but differences exist..

Ayurvedic Medicines:

1. Only the plants listed in old texts of antiquity like Charaka Samhitaa, Ashtang Hridaya, Sarangdhara Samhitaa, dahanvantari Nighantu, Arya bhishak etc can be used as medicines..

2. The methods of preparation of medicines detailed in these books are to be strictly followed.

3. Poly herbal formulations

 containing 30 or more plants are common, including a sizable number of ingredients that have undergone “alchemical processing”, chosen to balance doshas.

4. Minerals can be added mostly as “bhasma”,in addition.

5. The concept of active principle is not there. 

The whole plant/part/ extract act as a drug.

6. No new plant, Indian or Foreign, can be added in Ayurvedic preparations.

7. New scientific methods of extraction and processing are discouraged.

8.There will be strict control on the food taken: some are to be avoided and some advised after "Paddhya"

Herbal Medicines

1. Any plant , based on Bioprospecting, ethnobotany or pharmacological or phytochemical screening can be used as a drug, provided there is no toxicity.

2. These are evidence-based pharmaceutical drugs being practised in all advanced countries like Europe, USA, China, Korea etc. Some researchers trained in both Western and traditional medicines have attempted to deconstruct ancient medical texts in the light of modern science as in China.

3. Maximum importance is given to latest available knowledge. Herbs with maximum

research data are selected.

4. All new scientific knowledge on active principles, synergism and also extraction methods is adopted here.

5 . Gives more importance to Clinical researches.

6. Drugs enriched in active principles also are produced.

7. The role of other factors like antioxidants, antimicrobials, biocatalysts, immunomodulators etc also are taken into consideration.

8. There are no food restrictions when one takes Herbal medicines

Logics of plant based medicines.

In medical texts, a single plant is attributed with a number of medicinal properties, as against Western Medicine where a compound has a single property. It is proved that the different chemical components of a plant drug are found to exert widely different pharmacological properties. In the case of Punarnava (Boerhavia diffusa), the roots are found to contain punarnavoside, rotenoids such as boeravinones A,B,C,D &E, lignans such as liriodendrin and syringaresinol, flavones, sterols, boeravine (an isofuroxanthone) and hypoxanthine-9-L-arabinofuranoside. Pharmacological studies proved that punarnavoside is the antifibrinolytic agent. Liriodendrin and hypoxanthine-9-L-arabinofuranoside are found to be antihypertensive and the former is a Ca++ channel antagonist but the whole plant extract exhibit anti-inflammatory, diuretic and hepatoprotective activities probably due to the other compounds present in the plant. This clearly proves that the compounds other than the so-called active principle also are active in the healing processes attributed to the drug. Similarly in Withania somnifera, the total alkaloidal fraction exhibits hypotensive, bradicardic and respiratory stimulant activities while the other major group of components withanolides possesses antiarthritic, immunosuppressive, antitumour and antibacterial properties.

A plant extract whether it is taken in water or in organic solvents contain a minimum of 200 to 300 chemical compounds or even more ( The total number of compounds in a plant is the Metabolome” of that plant.). A single metabolome, the sum total of primary and secondary metabolites, contains about 4,000 compounds (It may even go up to 10,000). An extract will contain, not only active compounds (Secondary metabolites) but, a large number of different sugars, sugar amines, sugar acids, amino acids (including non-protein amino acids), peptides, fatty acids, co factors, minerals, terpenes, hydrocarbons, steroids, phenolics, antioxidants etc. All these compounds are being absorbed and will be utilized by the body for some purpose or the other. For.eg. all the nutrient components like sugars , amino acids etc get into metabolic pathways and help positively in improving health.

The so called “ other (often minor) components”, are never attributed with any activity. It is in this context, Duke’s (1997) observations are interesting. He describes the very common ferulic acid, gentisic acid, kaempferol glycosides and salicylic acid as pain relievers while ascorbic acid, cinnamic acid, coumarin, myricetin, quercetin and resveratrol are explained anti-inflammatory. Even the variety of chemicals and their richness (concentration) in a medicinal herb is of great value in assessing its property. Duke’s data base states that both coriander and liquorice contain 20 chemicals with antibacterial action; Oregano and rosemary has 19; ginger 17; nutmeg 15; cinnamon and cumin 11; black pepper 14; bay 10 and garlic 13. Quantity wise liquorice contains up to 33% bactericidal compounds (dry weight basis), thyme 21%, Oregano 8.8% &, rosemary 4.8% coriander 2.2% and fennel, 1.5%. Needless to say the above data explains the drug action of the said plants.

Source: “Useful Herbs of Planet Earth” By M. Daniel (2013) Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur/ New Delhi, pp.392-393)

Mammen Daniel