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- KOREAN
- P-ISSN3022-6805
- E-ISSN3022-6791
- KCI
ISSN : 3022-6805
Vol.6 No.1
Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading medical condition for which patients use alternative treatments including the natural remedies. The aim of this review is to describe the dietary supplements and herbal remedies most commonly used in patients with osteoarthritis with an emphasis on the efficacy and safety of these natural remedies. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, two of the molecular building blocks found in articular cartilage, are the most commonly used remedies in OA treatment. Most clinical researches suggest that glucosamine and chondroitin show efficacy in reducing or improving symptoms and their ability to arrest progression of the disease or regenerate damaged cartilage. Patented formulations of both remedies are recommended by several therapeutic guidelines for use as first line background OA treatment. Reliable evidence that the combination is more effective than either agent alone is however still lacking. Several other herbs or remedies are promoted for treating osteoarthritis such as S-adenosylmethionine, methylsulfonylmethane, Harpagophytum procumbens (devil’s claw), Curcuma longa (turmeric), Zingiber officinale (ginger), and capsaicin but there is no reliable evidence on long-term efficacy or safety. The clinical usefulness of these remedies is therefore rather limited currently.
Abstract
Traditional system of medicine mentioned the use of plants in treatment of various human ailments. Mochrus (Bombax ceiba Linn.) is one of the medicinal plants used in Unani medicine since time immemorial. It is a very tall tree with approximately 150 feet height. It is widely found in temperate Asia, tropical Asia, Africa and Australia. In India, it can be found at altitudes up to 1500 m. In peninsular India, the tree is very common in the dry as well as moist deciduous forests and near rivers. It is reported to possess qabiz (constipative); mujaffif (siccative); muqawwi rehm (uterine tonic); nafi sailan rehm (beneficial in leucorrhea); mumsik wa mughalliz mani (increase consistency of semen); muallide mani (production of semen); habise tams (amenorrhoic); dafi fasaad khoon wa safra (purifies blood and bile); taskeen hiddat aza (hotness of organs); muqawi asnan wa lissa (tonic to teeth and gums) etc. Ethnobotanical studies prove that it is used in diarrhoea, asthma, impotency, boils, wounds, leprosy, pimples and many other skin diseases. It is an anthelmintic remedy since ancient time. Pharmacological studies like hypotensive, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antiangiogenic, anti- bacterial, cytotoxic, hepatoprotective, diuretic, anthelmintic, anticancer, spermatogenic and anti-helicobacter pylori activities have been evaluated for various parts of this plant that confirms to its use in classical medicine.
Abstract
Consumption of herbal products from the medicinal plants contaminated with heavy metals can cause serious consequences on human health. This is a major concern for traditional and herbal medicine. The present study was carried out to analyze and quantify the levels of six potentially toxic heavy metals namely arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel in ten important Indian medicinal herbs. The air dried raw herbs were processed by microwave assisted wet digestion and analyzed by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with graphite tube atomizer. Except the chromium content in three plants, all the levels of six heavy metals analyzed were found to be quite below the permissible limits in all the ten raw medicinal herbs analyzed. The present work implies that, regular and systematic screening of raw medicinal herbs is necessary to check the levels of the heavy metal contaminants before using them for consumption or preparation of herbal formulations so that the possible contamination cannot cumulate up to the finished products.
Abstract
Dysmenorrhoea is the most important under diagnosed and undertreated gynaecologic disorder of all menstrual complaints. It affects 50% women of childbearing age and has a major impact on health and societal costs worldwideespecially in developing countries. Therefore, a literary exploration of traditional sources for aetiopathogenesis and clinical features of usr-i-tamth (dysmenorrhoea) were reviewed to correlate with contemporary knowledge.The traditional Unani sources viz., Al Hawi fi’l Tibb (Continens Liber),Tarjuma Kamil al-Sana‘a al-Tibbiyya, Al-Qanun fi’l Tibb (Canon of Medicine), Dhakhira Khawarizam Shahi, Tibb-i-Akbar, Iksir-i-A‘zam, Kitab al-Kulliyyat, and Kulliyyat-i-Qanun were reviewed. Further, recent studies in the contemporary era were also browsed on the website. The causes of usre-i-tamth as per classical sources are distemperament, uterine diseases (atresia, inflammation, amenorrhoea, cancer, prolapse, ulcer, tenuous morbid matter, and cervical obstruction), psychological disturbances, environmental factors, menstrual irregularities, obesity and young age. Recent studies also prove that obesity, psychological disturbance, menstrual irregularities, environmental factors, uterine diseases and young age lead to dysmenorrhea.Unani classical sources are very much enriched with the informative knowledge related to menstruation and uterine pain/dysmenorrhoea and recent studies in contemporary proves the same. Hence, implementation of the traditional system of medicines in present-day era may play a vital role to restore health in a holistic way.
Abstract
Combating anaemia is a global public health challenge of the developing world. Nutritional anaemia is a serious health problem faced by Indian school children. An investigation was taken up to study the effect of non iron containing Ayurvedic preparation Sootshekhar Rasa (SR) plus Sitopaladi Churna (SC) along with iron and folic acid (IFA) for improving nutritional anaemia among adolescent school going students of Dehradun district in Northern India. The blinded, controlled randomized trial comprised of 820 adolescents anaemic students aged 11 - 18 years. The anaemic students were randomly divided into 4 groups, students of group I (control) received starch, group II, III, and IV students received daily dose of (SR 250 mg + SC 400 mg), IFA and (SR 250 mg + SC 400 mg) + IFA, respectively. All the students received treatment for 90days and were followed up for next 180days. At the end of follow-up (day 270), significant increase of haemoglobin (Hb) level from the base line was recorded in all treatment groups. The maximum gain in Hb concentration was noted in group IV (10.1 ± 0.6 g/L), which was significantly higher than any other group. There were 123 drop-outs; however, no major side effect of treatment was noted in any student. We conclude that daily dose of (SR 250 mg + SC 400 mg) along with IFA can produce sustainable improvement of nutritional anaemia in adolescent students.
Abstract
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) has now become more common in occurrence in women of reproductive age, particularly in urban and semi-urban population in India. So there is a need to investigate this phenomenon taking into consideration various aspects including possible treatment method to ameliorate/eradicate this syndrome, which has far reaching socio-economic impact and consequences, in view of infertility and irregular menstrual cycles frequently associated with this syndrome. Homeopathy is a branch of traditional alternative medicine which is gaining popularity in India and some other developing countries, as also in some of the developed countries in Europe. With this background scenario, we have made an attempt to treat cases of confirmed PCOS and tried to compare the relative efficacy of two potentized homeopathic drugs, namely, Lycopodium clavatum (Lyco) and Calcarea carbonica (Calc), most frequently used by homeopathic practitioners, selecting different potencies of the drugs, depending on condition/guiding symptom(s) of the patients. While the main focus was pointed on total/partial removal of cysts, data pertaining to different PCOS associated symptoms were also compared for the sake of learning if the two drugs had differential effects on these symptoms also. The study parameters in this investigation included: regularity/irregularity of menstrual cycle, presence/absence of acne, hirsutism, male type alopecia, acanthosis nigricans, body/mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio. Overall results provided clear evidences that both these homeopathic drugs had great ameliorating effects on PCOS, although each drug had a little different effect in respect of the individual parameters of this study.
Abstract
In view of greater attention given to the incidence of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in women of reproductive age, particularly in urban and semi-urban population in India, research works in both the regimens of orthodox and complementary and alternative medicines have been rejuvenated in recent years. We report here relative efficacy of two potentized homeopathic remedies, Calcarea carbonica (Calc) and Lycopodium clavatum (Lyco) used traditionally for the removal of ovarian cysts. These drugs are most frequently used based on guiding symptoms of individual patients. Effects of either of these remedies on its ability of removing cysts, along with amelioration of certain other hormones and hormone-related parameters of PCOS, such as follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, Estradiol, Testosterone (Free/Total), Dehydroepiandosterone, Prolactine, Progesterone (17- Hydroxyprogesterone), TSH including T3, T4, and Insulin were studied. The Insulin-related parameters like changes in fasting or post-prandial glucose levels were also studied. The mentioned hormones play some- direct or indirect roles in causing irregular menstrual cycle and PCOS. The data collected at three fixation time points, namely, at 6, 12, and 18 months were considered. Results showed that out of 40 patients initially having PCOS, cysts were totally removed in 21 patients along with amelioration of other relevant symptoms. Both Calc and Lyco had amelioration of similar nature. Results of this study therefore validate safe and effective use of both Calc and Lyco in homeopathy, to patients with basic guiding symptoms for either drug, and can be recommended for patients with PCOS as they do not have any reported side-effects.