Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Drumstick, radish and Cruciferous vegetables to fight with cancer and blood pressure. Drumstick, mustard, horse-raddish and other Cruciferous vegetables contain sulphur containing glycosides - glucosinolates (Mustard oil glycosides) which are responsible for their pungent taste and characteristic flavour. These compounds are the long lasting antioxidants active in the body as many as 3 to 4 days after the food containing them has been consumed (Please see below). They are present in almost all the members of Brassicaceae, Capparaceae and related taxa. In the plant an enzyme myrosinase occurs spatially separated from these compounds. But on crushing the enzyme acts on the glucosinolates and liberate volatile isothiocyanates and glucose. The isothiocyanates have a general formula R N = C= S and various members of this group differ in R-group. More than 80 different isothiocyanates are reported and, due to their pungency and offensive odour, they protect the pla...

Terminalia arjuna- Cardiotonic and other medicinal properties Ayurvedic practitioners employ several Terminalia arjuna preparations for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders and for their lipid lowering activities.  A large number of pentacyclic tritepenoids, flavonoids and tannins have been reported from the bark. The principal triterpenoids are arjunolic acid (the main constituent- and its glycosides), arjunic acid (its glycoside arjunetin,arjunoside I –IV), arjungenin, terminoside, terminic acid etc. The flavonoids include arjunolone, baicalein , flavones, kampferol, pelorgonidin , quercetin and luteolin. Hydrolysable tannins include arjunin, pyrocatechols, punicalin , punicalagin , terchebulin , terflavin C , castalagin , casuariin and casuarinin.  Among these ,compounds with cardiovascular effects are beta -sitosterol, terminic acid, terminoside A, arjunolone, baicalein, pelorgonidin, punicallin, terchebulin, terflavin, and casta...

Lipid containing medicinal plants -1 (Pictures: Chaulmoogra) In proximate analysis of a medicinal plant, everyone reports the alcohol solubles in a sample. This fraction contains almost all water insoluble compounds- named lipids. Let me introduce lipids with an anecdote.  Once in one of my biochemistry classes, after finishing Carbohydrates and Proteins which are water soluble components (and thus useful in foods), I started with water insoluble topic, lipids. In the middle of my lecture, one smart boy interrupted me and asked. “Sir, if they are not water soluble why should we need (to study) them?” I fumbled for a moment but regained my composure shortly and said “My dear friend, if we do not have lipids, while bathing you pour water on your head, you will be flowing down through drainage”. Well that explained the importance of lipids around us. It is the lipids that define us, our cells, tissues, organs etc or our shape !!!! (I am sure that, after a bath, all of ...

No anomaly in secondary thickening in Draceana and other monocots - Molecular evidences. The secondary growth seen in monocots like Draceana need not be considered “abnormal secondary growth” (as considered by many anatomists) and should be considered as “true secondary growth’, as proposed by Fisher (1973) and DeMason (1994,) because similar to the origin of interfascicular cambium from interfascicular ground tissue inner to pericycle in normal secondary growth in Dicotyledons, in monocots it is the pericycle itself giving rise to secondary cambium producing both secondary vascular tissues and parenchyma in a unidirectional manner. Evidences from Molecular studies (Mathew et al., 2017). Transcript scaffolds are a representation of expressed genes and Mathew and co-workers compared gene expression in the monocot cambium samples (of Cordyline australis and Yucca gloriosa) to genes expressed in the cambium and wood-forming tissues for two forest tree species, Po...

Intensely sweet proteins as an alternative to sugar. Photo: Pentadiplandra There are a number of intensely sweet proteins which in the near future will come handy to those diabetics and dieters who crave for sweet dishes. The proteins are brazzein, pentadin, mabilinin, monellin, thaumatin, curculin and a sweet inducing miraculin. (Images given are of brazzein and its source plant Pentadiplandra) Brazzein and Pentadin are proteins isolated from the fruits of Oubli (Pentadiplandra brazzeana Bail. –Capparaceae) a climbing shrub growing in some tropical countries of Africa. African locals call them "Oubli" (French for "forgot") in their vernacular language because their taste is said to encourage nursing infants to forget their mother's milk Both these are found in the extracellular region, in the pulp tissue surrounding the seeds. Pentadin was discovered earlier in 1989 and brazzein later in 1994 Brazzein, 500 to 2000 times sweeter than sugar, consis...

Pulse proteins and "Essential amino acids". Pulse proteins are much better for maintenance and building up of body because of three qualities: 1. they contain all the 10 “essential amino acids”, 2. are easily soluble in water and thus easily digestible and 3. are not destroyed by cooking. “Essential amino acids“ are named thus because they should be “essential” components of food as they are produced in insufficient amounts in many animals especially man necessitating their supply from an external source. They are so important in protein synthesis (protein makes up to 50% of dry matter of protoplasm) that in absence of any of these 10 amino acids, no new protein is synthesized and the amino acids get deaminated to carboxylic acids and get into respiratory stream.  The "essential amino acids are the following : M – Methionine I – Isoleucine L – Leucine L – Lysine P – Phenyl alanine A – Arginine T – Tryptophan H – Histidine. T – Threonine V – Valine You can re...

Bioprospecting- the ideal way to locate useful phytochemicals and thus reduce the pressure and save the “threatened” medicinal plants from extinction. (Photo; Rauwolfia tetraphylla an alternative to R. serpentina) A number of medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction due to overexploitation caused by an increasing demand. Many of us would be knowing that biologically related plants having similar flowers, fruits, phytochemicals etc or in other words, plants of same family, produce same or similar compounds, just like the “blood relationships” of humans and animals. That is why Chemotaxonomists (Taxonomists assessing relationships based on the chemicals in plants) are doing to find out the kinship among plants. Thus all plants in the family Menispermaceae would have isoquinoline alkaloids like that of Amruta (Tinospora) and those of Solanaceae contain Datura alkaloids like atropine or related compounds. Thus we can find out an alternative source plant among the clo...

Amino acids (non-protein) as medicines. Everyone is familiar with the 25 amino acids which constitute proteins (protein amino acids) , 16-20 are present frequently and only 22 are coded by DNA. But their are more than 900 amino acids exist in Plants (outside proteins -Non-protein amino acids). Some are homologous members of protein aminoacids while some others are structural isomers. More that half of these amino acids are present in legume family. Many of them are toxic to animals and to nearby plants (allelopathic interactions) and thus are considered as survival mechanisms. Many sulphur containing compounds of garlic and onioncontain them. Glutathione (g-L-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine), a prosthetic group of some enzymes is widely distributed among higher plants. Some of the antibiotics like Polymyxins as well as toxins of Fly Agaric (a toxic mushroom) have non protein amino acids. Pantothenic acid of coenzyme A molecule consists of pantoic acid and b-alanine. In folic aci...

Betacyanins, the pigments of Caryophyllidae Betacyanins are the second group of red pigments responsible for the red/purple colour of beetroot and flowers of Bougainvillea, Celosia and Cactus. In contrast the other larger group of anthocyanins which are polyphenols, betacyanins are a group of nitrogenous compounds (like alkaloids) responsible for the red and yellow color of plants belonging to the Caryophyllidae which contain about 11,00 plants (4% of total Angiosperms). It is an enigma that they are mutually exclusive to anthocyanins in that they are never seen in plants containing anthocyanins and vice-versa. They possess an indole-2- carboxylic acid / proline N-linked to a pyridine dicarboxylic acid group through an acetyl group. Where indolic moiety is there, the compounds are red in color and are designated betacyanins. The second group where proline is present, the pigments are yellow in color and known as betaxanthins. Both betacyanins and anthocyanins absorb light ...

Triterpenoids- The active compounds of many medicinal plants: Part-1 All terpenoids are made up of C5 isopentane- isoprene units and thus are known as Isoprenoids or isopentanoids and formed by mevalonic acid pathway. If 2 isopentane units combain they form one C10 monoterpene (very volatile, volatile oils), 3 isoprenes make C15 sesquiterpene (less volatile volatile oils), 4 isoprenes join to make a C20 diterpene (resins), 6 isoprenes form a C30 triterpene (steroids, saponins), 8 isoprenes make a C40 tetreterpenoids (carotenoids and xanthophylls) and many isoprenoids unite to form Cn –polyterpenoids (Rubber and Gutta). Here we look into a larger group of isopreniods the Triterpenoids.                 The triterpenoids are C30 compounds composed of three monoterpene (3x10) or of two sesquiterpene (2 x 15) units linked tail to tail. More than 5000 triterpenoids are isolated from plants. Nearly hundred types of skeletons are known in...

Glucosinolates of raddish, Moringa and Cruciferous vegetables,  the best antioxidants in world to protect us. Glucosinolates (Mustard oil glycosides) are sulphur containing glycosides responsible for the pungent taste and characteristic flavor of raddish, drumstick, mustard, horse-raddish etc.  They are the long lasting antioxidants actve in the body as many as 3 to 4 days after the food containing them has been consumed (Please see below). They are present in almost all the members of Brassicaceae, Capparaceae and related taxa.  In the plant an enzyme myrosinase occurs spatially separated from these compounds.  But on crushing the enzyme acts on the glucosinolates and liberate volatile isothiocyanates and glucose.  The isothiocyanates have a general formula R N = C= S and various members of this group differ in R-group.  More than 80 different isothiocyanates are reported and, due to their pungency and offensive odour, they protect the plants ...

🌱रसायन द्रव्य🌱 Herbs that increases Immunity  🏵️हरीतकी । हरड़ । पथ्या । Terminalia chebula 🏵️आमलकी । आंवला । Amla । Indian goose berry । Phyllanthus emblica 🏵️गुडूची । गिलोय । Tinospora cordifolia 🏵️अश्वगंधा । वराहकर्णी । Withania somnifera 🏵️वृद्धदारुक । विधारा । Elephant creeper । Argyreia speciosa 🏵️नागबला । गुड़ शर्करा । गुलशकरी । गुड़खण्डी । Grewia hirsuta 🏵️नागदमन । Sansevieria roxburghiana Dr. Garima Saini  MD Ayurveda  Associate Prof. Place - Uttarakhand

Herbs that improve Mental Health  🌳मण्डूकपर्णी Mandukparni🌳 🌳English name - Indian Pennywort 🌳Other names- ब्राह्मी । सरस्वती।  🌳Latin name- Centella asiatica 🌳Family - Umbellifereae  🌳Main Use -  This herb promote Intellect and Nourishes Brain, increases Memory , improves speech.. Useful in Neurological disorders like ADHD , Epilepsy, Memory problem, speech disorder  Other uses Skin disorders , Anaemia, Diabetes, Cough, Fever  🌳Part used - whole plant 🌳How to use and dosage 🌱 Juice 10 - 20 ml daily  🌱Important formulations- Sarswatarist, Sarswat ghrat  Dr. Garima Saini  MD Ayurveda  Associate Prof. Place - Uttarakhand