Ayurvedamagazine

Category: AYURVEDA

  • Ladakh herbs and medicinal plants should get world recognition, says PM Modi

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address on Jammu and Kashmir said on Thursday it is time that people of Ladakh benefit from the region’s rich biodiversity, while its medicinal plants and herbs get global recognition.

    In his address to the nation days after Parliament approved the abrogation of special status for Jammu and Kashmir and cleared a bill to split the state into two union territories, the prime minister referred to Ladakh’s ‘solo’ herb, which he said could work as modern day ‘sanjeevani’ for security personnel deployed in snow-clad mountains.

    “Experts say the plant is a sanjeevani for people living in high altitudes and security personnel deployed in snow clad areas. It maintains the body’s immune system in areas with low oxygen …. which Indian does not want that it should be sold world over… I have named only one herb. Such herbs are spread all over Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,” he said.

    Modi was of the view that if such herbs are recognised and sold, then it will benefit people as well as farmers of the area.

    “I request the industrialists, exporters and those associated with food processing to come forward to take the local products across the globe,” he said.

    Source: PTI

  • Medicinal herb receives a diabetes-fighting boost

    Commonly known as Paneer dodi, the herb Withania coagulans has been used in traditional Indian medicine for many years now – among other things, it is claimed to help control diabetes. A new study shows that it indeed may do so, particularly when it’s ingested within special capsules.

    Unfortunately, however, the berries are very bitter – this makes it quite difficult to consume a sufficiently-sized dose of an extract obtained from them. Additionally, even if someone were able to eat or drink enough of that extract, much of its medicinal content would likely be destroyed by their stomach acid.

    With that in mind, the researchers encapsulated their W. coagulans steroids within nanoparticles made of chitosan, which is a natural substance derived from shellfish exoskeletons. Those particles were in turn coated in a food-based starch, making them better able to withstand acidic conditions. This was done so that they could pass through the stomach, not dissolving and releasing the steroids until reaching the small intestine.

  • Remembering Ayurveda’s Charaka

    Bhopal: Charak Jayanti was celebrated at Radharaman Ayurveda Medical College Research Hospital on August 05; 2019 in memory of the birthday of Charaka who was one of the principal contributors to Ayurveda.  He is known for authoring the medical treatise, the Charaka Samhita. A seminar was also organized on the occasion on the usefulness of Ayurveda to human society.

    While addressing the students, Chandraprakash Sharma, Joint Director, AYUSH said that Ayurveda system of medicine started in the holy land of India about 5000 years ago. He added that this is a science of long life and the oldest system of health care in the world. It contains serious views on both medicine and philosophy.

    This is the reason that Ayurveda has an important role to play for the entire physical, mental and spiritual development of mankind. Today it is an unique and integral branch of medicine. There is a complete natural system, which is helpful in achieving the right balance of your body.

    At the same time, Vipin Tomar said that on this day, it is very important to understand the medical principles of Acharya Charak to know and understand Ayurveda. He wrote Charak Sanghita, the principal treatise of Ayurveda. Bhupendra Singh Patel, Vice Chairman of Radharaman Group said that if you want to live healthy and stress-free, then Ayurvedic lifestyle is the only option. Ayurveda is the science of living life. The rules of living are described in the codes of Ayurveda 5000 years ago, they live up to life in today’s environment. The main principle of Ayurveda is to safeguard the health and to cure diseases by treating the patient’s disease.

    Chandraprakash Sharma, Joint Director, AYUSH,  Vipin Tomar, Deputy Director, Ayush Department, Madhya Pradesh, District Hospital, Sehore Superintendent Ram Pratap Rajput, Mrunurjay Ayurveda Hospital Director Anurag Singh Rajput, Deputy Superintendent Gayatri Telang, Radharaman Ayurved Medical College all faculty and engineering students including Bhupendra Singh Patel, Vice Chairman, Research Hospital Radharaman Group were present.

    Source: thepioneer.com

  • Herbs to heal cattle

    In the absence of veterinary services, traditional medical practices for treating livestock remain popular in tribal villages and this is getting popular even in towns where veterinary services are getting expensive and tough.

    Several diseases like that of ruminaltympany disease (bloated rumen or paunch of the cattle) is difficult to be treated even by a veterinary doctor even though this is responsible for 20 percent of cattle mortality in the country.

    A study on the use of ethno-veterinary medicines-traditional practices of veterinary medicine using local plants and herbs-claim that local cattle herders cure the lethal cattle disease with the good old tamarind.

    It has been found that the use of plants to heal cattle diseases is a common practice in the tribal parts of Nagpur, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts of Maharashtra.

    Around 46 plants have been identified to cure different diseases in livestock and this is used by many herbalists and cattle herders experienced in administering such plant-based medicines. These plants and medicines have been found to be highly effective in curing atleast 20 conditions, ranging from serious ailments such as foot and mouth disease, fractures and abortions to common conditions such as reduced lactation, eye or teeth problems and snake or scorpion bites.

    However, there are limitations when it comes to contagious diseases and emergent conditions such as viral diseases, goat plague and blue tongue.

    Also, diseases caused during the rainy season like hoof infections in case of horses are cured using different dosage of herbs rather than the prescription from a veterinary doctor. Tympany is cured by just mixing tamarind pulp or crushed leaves with a bit of oil and ash from cooking fires. This is then mixed with water and given to the animal to drink. Within 20 minutes, the most severe case of tympany is eased.

    Also, herders regularly fumigate cattle sheds with neem or common wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris) leaves to remove insects and germs. Simple treatments for healing wounds, improving lactation and de-worming are usually carried out by the herders themselves using traditional herbs.
    The help of traditional herbalists is taken only in curing complex diseases which require the use of different herbs that need to be boiled, dried and burnt.

    They say that a plant is used for different problems in different areas. The different parts of a plant are used for different conditions. An example is mahua (Madhucalongifolia), whose fruit is used in the Vidarbha region for treating malarial fever in cattle. Liquor from the flower is used in western Maharashtra for a prolapsed uterus.

    Research found that while some herbs were commonly used, others were known only to a few herbalists. It was observed that while 48 of 60 herbalists used Daturametel for healing wounds, only five used Ficus bengalgenesis roots for dental problems.

  • Bengaluru-based startup, AyurUniverse is an online wellness aggregator

    In a world where stress and lifestyle diseases rule, wellness matters. India, which should have been on top of the wellness game with Ayurveda, Yoga or Siddha medicine, does not seem to have benefited much despite these homegrown concepts resonating worldwide.

    It was this thought that led Vijay Kumar Karai, a corporate professional turned entrepreneur to make AyurUniverse in 2016. Karai also holds an MBA from University of Southern California, and has 18 years of corporate experience with companies like Coke and Pepsi in sales and marketing. His aim was to just put Ayurveda, Yoga, meditation, and other concepts on the global wellness map.

    Today, AyurUniverse is an online wellness aggregator startup that leverages technology to let customers worldwide search, choose and book a wellness package of their choice without any intermediaries.

    The idea for this venture came while Karai was running an Ayurvedic spa center in Mysore. At this time, he realized that there was tremendous potential with strong demand for wellness centers in India although all such units in the country were operating in silos and lacked marketing bandwidth.

    The entrepreneur in him knew that the golden triangle of Indian tourism, was Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. These drew the most international tourists and so he decided to focus on the wellness options in this circuit.

    Over the last two years, AyurUniverse went about building a technology platform that would act as a one-stop aggregator for these wellness concepts.

    Today, AyurUniverse provides customised Ayurveda and yoga packages for ailment management, wellness, and training. A team of doctors and yoga experts offers online consultation on health concerns to customers while a team of advisers helps them choose the right package at the right centre, based on requirement and intent.

    The startup soon brought 300 certified centres across India and Sri Lanka on to its platform.

    It also leveraged on technologies like AI to map customers’ expectations with a centre’s offerings.  Today, AyurUniverse claims to enjoy a diverse clientele from 190 countries. Customers from India account for 35 percent of its business, followed by UK and US. Vijay believes that fitness does not necessarily equal wellness as most diseases are psychosomatic. Here, concepts like Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation fit in well as they “go to the root of the problem and act as a preventive measure”.

    According to recent estimates by FICCI and EY, the wellness industry will grow at a CAGR of nearly 12 percent for the next 5 years, and reach an estimated high of Rs 1.5 trillion by 2020. The growth is being attributed to the increase in disposable incomes and rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases.

    AyurUniverse is looking to tap this rising demand. It aims to design its own packages that are better suited to modern-day requirements and expand into newer geographies outside India.

    Vijay believes they have very little competition in the space of Ayurveda. Sta

  • Forest Essentials – delivering Ayurveda beauty care products on a golden platter

    It is seen that over the years, people’s obsession for beauty and beauty care products have only increased. Today, people resort more to natural or ayurvedic products that are sure to have no side effects. It is this space that companies like ‘Forest Essentials’ have tapped. Forest Essentials make products that are natural and they resort to traditional process for manufacturing their products. One of their product – the Eternal Youth anti-ageing cream is made by burying dates and litchis under a banyan tree for fermentation. Ancient Ayurvedic wisdom says that under the shade of the banyan tree, the fruit ferments at a certain pace. If there is too much sun, it will ferment too quickly; if it doesn’t have enough, it ferments slowly. And while workers at the Forest Essentials factory are mixing the ingredients for the cream—described as an ancient formulation from the early 17th century—they chant special mantras. This they believe will enable positive vibrations and energy to be imbibed into the product.

    ‘Forest Essentials’ was the brain child of the 63-year-old Mira Kulkarni, who is a fine arts graduate. She started the company at the onset of the millennium with just some handmade soaps first given to family and friends. It was a small personally funded project that went back to the roots of Ayurveda with a manufacturing unit in a remote village called Lodsi in the Tehri Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. One of the first things she did was buy an old-fashioned oil press which, she says, no one knew how to use. All of the processes were driven by hand, including traditional pounding of herbs, pressing of oils, and rolling of incense sticks. In 2002, Forest Essentials received its first small institutional order from the Hyatt Regency, New Delhi.

    Today, Kulkarni has a huge portfolio of carefully curated creams and lotions made from natural ingredients such as roses shipped from Kannauj, lemongrass from Ooty, and sandalwood from Mysuru. Her products, ranging from the date and litchi cream to a 24-carat-gold-based Soundarya Radiance cream, are sold across 70 stores in India. And her list of clients includes big hotel chains like Taj Hotels, The Oberoi Group, The Ritz Carlton, and The Four Seasons. A lime, tulsi, and narangi range is specially blended for The Oberoi Group; Taj Hotels has a special aloe vera and neem range; and the Marriott uses a bitter orange and cinnamon collection. Forest Essentials also supplies to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

    Over the years, New Delhi-based Forest Essentials has been shipping its cosmetics to more than 120 countries. And now it is readying to go global by opening stores abroad and partnering with high-end department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. It is in the process of getting EU and USFDA certification and sewing up partnerships for countries where it cannot open standalone stores.

    Today, it has expanded beyond the metros to open shops in smaller cities like Indore, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, and Kochi. It has thrived despite stiff competition in India’s around $4-billion Ayurvedic cosmetics market with newer players like Kama Ayurveda grabbing market share.

  • 1mg’s Ayurveda Resource – Scientifically Traditional

    The ancient science of Ayurveda has been around for centuries and the fact that its treatment has no adverse side effects has turned more and more people across the globe in favor of Ayurvedic medicines and treatments. With its roots in India, this natural healthcare system fosters a balanced and dynamic integration of body, mind and soul, while incorporating all modern lifestyle factors. In Ayurveda, every herb has a certain therapeutic action having a major impact on one of the three primary forces or doshas (vata, pitta, kapha) which play an important role in our life. All of us harness the powers of these in varied proportions, which forms the basis of our nature and health. An imbalance within these forces can lead to physical and mental illness.

    Keeping this in mind, 1mg has introduced a one-stop information portal in both Hindi and English (http://www.1mg.com/ayurveda, http://www.1mg.com/hi/patanjali) having thoroughly researched and useful information on Ayurvedic ingredients along with several natural remedies for various health problems. The extraordinary research and evidence-based content is curated based on top-notch scientific evidence as well as Ayurvedic expertise, and draws influence from the research team of Patanjali on Ayurveda and Yoga, with an intention to promote better health and wellbeing. The content generated is further simplified by Ayurvedic doctors and edited by medical editors through an extensive review process to make it simple and easy to understand.

    With over 180 ingredients discussed at length, and close to 800+ articles on home remedies, natural herbs and healthy food, this portal strengthens 1mg’s ongoing initiatives to propagate the knowledge of Ayurveda across the globe.

    Prashant Tandon, CEO and Co-founder, http://www.1mg.com said, “Ayurveda as a concept has tremendous power for impacting human wellbeing, but continues to suffer from low adoption, particularly among health-conscious Indians. The primary reason for this has been lack of awareness and a credible information source. We saw this as an existing gap and started working towards consolidating evidence-based Ayurveda information at one place so it is understandable and accessible by our consumers. We have created a unique platform for quality information on Ayurveda and the power of nature to help live a healthy life. You can access all information about natural herbs with full detailed and validated scientific literature. We believe there is a tremendous power in nature: but a lot of misconceptions, distorted information and unqualified practitioners have created a situation where consumers are not sure if they can trust the information. We have tried to create an information platform to dispel the myths and bring forth the transparent facts.” 

    1mg has made its mark across the Country for being a pioneer in online pharmacy market, with over 22 million app downloads and 200 million monthly page views. 1mg provides information regarding allopathic, ayurvedic, homeopathic medicines, nutrition supplements as well as diagnostic services from certified labs. It has made health care accessible to millions by giving them quality care at affordable prices and claims to have more than 10 million unique users every month on its platform.

    Source: PTI, Gurugram

  • Proposal to add Yoga in educational curriculum: Shripad Naik

    Union AYUSH minister Shripad Naik on Monday said a proposal had been sent to the HRD ministry to include Yoga in the educational curriculum from the next academic year.

    He said the proposal envisages Yoga as a compulsory subject under the Physical Education (PE) curriculum for school students and collegians.

    “We expect the proposal to be cleared as soon as possible, which will allow Yoga to be part of the curriculum from the 2020-21 academic year,” he said.

    Speaking on preparations of International Yoga Day, celebrated worldwide on June 21, Naik said the main function would be held in Ranchi in Jharkhand and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be the chief guest.

    “Several yoga gurus and invitees from abroad will be participating in the function,” he said, adding the number of countries hosting programmes as part of International Yoga Day had risen from 177 to almost 200.

    Source: PTI

  • Ayurveda soap, Medimix turns 50

    Kochi, 12thJune 2019: AVA Group, manufacturers of the world’s largest selling handmade soap Medimix, celebrates 50 years of its glorious journey. The company still maintains the legacy and originality of handcrafted soap in the era of mechanized production.

    Medimix originated in 1969 in Chennai when Dr. V.P. Sidhan, who was a doctor with the Indian Railways, began making soap to treat skin ailments in railway workers. Buoyed by its mention on prescriptions written by doctors treating skin conditions and the confidence his friends placed in him, the homemade remedies for skin ailments turns into a successful business proposition and creates a legacy product.

    The manufacturing process of Medimix is very interesting and unique. The employees come up with innovative ideas and ways and designed machineries that work without using electricity. Every month, the company receives ideas from all workers and in-house team studies these ideas. If the trial is successful, the company implements the idea across its units.

    Commenting on the journey of Medimix, Dr. A.V.Anoop, Managing Director, AVA Group said “We have maintained the legacy and originality of the process passed on by our founder Dr. V.P. Sidhan. The art of making soaps by hand is dying now, but we at AVA through series of innovation, cost-effective measures and with the strong and committed workforce have been able to grow into world’s largest selling handmade soap. In this 50th year, we are happy to honour and support our stakeholders who have been associated with us since the beginning and will also conduct activities for the development of the communities near the factories.” A major initiative has also been the dedication of “Sanjeevanam”a multi-specialty Ayurveda hospital (Kochi) to Kerala and Ayurveda.

    Till the 1990s, Medimix had only one product –  Medimix Classic. Over the years the brand has extended into Glycerin and Sandal variants in soap category, apart from Handwash. Medimix is purely herbal, with a combination of 18 unique herbs. AVA Group will launch Medimix Hair Oil, Medimix Shampoo and also a body wash, within the next two years.

    Today, the AVA Group has six plants across South India for Medimix. Each plant accounts for approximately 100,000 soaps, every day. Medimix in South India alone accounts for 850 tons of soap per month. In FY18-19 AVA crossed 10,000-tonne production mark. The Vision of the company is to achieve Rs.500 crore sales volume by FY-2020.

    About AVA Group: 

    AVA Group is a diversified conglomerate with interests in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Health Care, Natural Food, Natural Cosmetics and Entertainment. The group owns various successful brands like Medimix, Melam, and Kaytra in the FMCG segment. Over the last many decades, the group has established itself as a leader in each of the sectors it operates in. AVA group has an in-house R&D Centre dedicated to the study of Ayurveda.

  • All PHCs To Have Doctor From Alternative Medicine Systems: AYUSH Minister

    Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik said every primary health centres (PHCs) in the country will have a doctor from alternative medicine systems besides an allopathy practitioner. Naik said doctors either from Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Unani and Siddha streams will be placed at the government-run PHCs.

    “All PHCs in the country will now have AYUSH doctors besides allopathy practitioners,” Naik said. He said the people would be introduced to alternative medicine through such measures.

    “Right now, the primary health centres have doctors only from Allopathy stream but now there will be a doctor either from Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha or Homeopathy,” the North Goa MP said.

    Naik said his ministry will set up 2,500 AYUSH wellness centres across the country during the first phase of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, which was launched earlier by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “We have a quota of setting up 1.12 lakh AYUSH wellness centres across the country under this scheme. In the first phase, we will set up 2500 centres,” he said. Naik said his ministry was also in the process of setting up 150 AYUSH hospitals, for which the Centre will provide funds. “We have to create AYUSH infrastructure so that people know about its benefits. We cannot convince people to go for these medicines till we introduce them at their doorsteps,” he said.

    Source: PTI