Alzheimer's Disease

Ayurvedic Home Remedies: Turmeric For Alzheimer's Disease

Turmeric has once again been in the limelight for its medicinal properties especially its action in preventing Alzheimer’s disease. It is found to stop the spread of plaque found in brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

A study conducted by Professor Murali Doraisamy of Duke University Medical Center, Carolina showed that curcumin, or turmeric cured Alzheimer’s disease. Brain plaques dissolved in mice which were given curcumin, and in younger mice turmeric prevented formation of plaque in the first place.

Several studies have shown that turmeric is effective in treating conditions such as cough, cold, to cancer and arthritis.  Incidentally, turmeric is referred as ‘spice of life’ in India.

Indians who take turmeric regularly have a low incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. 

One of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is memory loss.  This can be a devastating experience.  There will be one million people with this disease in 10 years.  Turmeric can change their life.  Turmeric is cost effective, safe and easily available.

Professor Murali Doraisamy said that efforts are underway that could lead to a curry pill.

Turmeric along with neem was under a patent imbroglio some years back with the big drug companies wanting to patent both of them.  The timely interference of the Indian government prevented this from happening.

Medicinal plants and herbs are meant for all.  They were graciously provided by the Divine for the well being of all human beings.  It should not be cornered by a few greedy crooks.

Adathoda

Ayurveda Herbs and Sinus Congestion

This article is in response to Baahjan’s comments. Thank you Baahjan for your comments. Regarding your “neer” problem (sinus congestion) one famous remedy is inhalation of medicated vapour, “vedhu” in Tamil.

For this you will have to boil water in a wide mouthed steel vessel. If you prefer the more traditional way you can use an earthen vessel which people in rural South India use to make curry. A handful of nochi leaves, adathoda leaves, thumbai leaves are enough. Drop these herbs onto the boiling water and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove the water from fire and keep it covered.

Simultaneously burn a fresh dry brick piece (about the size of a cricket ball) to red heat for about 10 minutes over fire. Using a pair of tongs, drop this red hot brick into the hot herbal water. This helps to keep the water hot.

Now crouching over the hot herbal water, cover yourself with a thick blanket. Do not get too close to the vessel. Exercise care so as not to get burnt. Inhale deeply both through your mouth and nose. You will sweat profusely, the earthy aroma would be a heady experience.

After a few minutes of inhalation, come out of the blanket, and move into an airy space. Towel yourself using a fine dry cloth.

Throw away the water.

After 10 to 15 minutes, have some warm water and go to bed.

For best results, this should be done preferably in the night.

This should solve your sinus congestion problems.

Another remedy is to take quite a quantity of nochi leaves (to make a sort of small pillow) and heat them in a mud pot. Once the leaves are a little brown, take all the heated leaves and make it into a small pillow using a pillow cover. Sleep over it for a couple of nights.
Above all, please consult your physician before going for any of these. This is for information purpose only.

Ayurveda for Acne and Pimples

Ayurveda for Acne and Pimples

The areas surrounding the pimples have a sense of discomfort. If you have enough will power not to press the pimples and keep your hands away from expelling the contents inside them you are half way through on your battle against pimples. You can find people of the older generation advise the younger ones not to press the pimples. When you eject out the pus like substance from the pimples, the area blackens and looks scarred. If you refrain from expelling the content, the pimples will subside in time.

Contrary to popular conception, it is not the oil on the face that leads to pimples. Ayurveda recommends proper application of oil like chandnadhi thailam, kumkumaadhi lepam, etc. Similarly application of sandalwood paste on pimples and blackheads is found to be beneficial. It would be ideal to apply sandalwood paste immediately on preparation. Avoid using readymade sandalwood paste tablets for this purpose.

Do not use soap to clean your face frequently. Frequent cleaning can lead to dry skin. According to Ayurveda “heat” is considered to be the cause of pimples and acne. In my earlier articles on 'beauty tips' and ‘dark circles around the eyes’, I had mentioned about the ‘heat’. It is not the increase in body temperature. Lack of sleep, stress, frequent intake of non-vegetarian food, excessive sexual indulgence all can lead to a build up of ‘heat’. To bring down the ‘heat’ bathing after application of coconut or linseed oil on head is recommended. Also cleansing of stomach by way of taking natural purgatives once in a month is recommended (only in case of unrelenting 'heat'). Eat plenty of fiber to avoid constipation. Fruits and vegetables should be used in plenty to maintain a ‘cool’ body.Drink a glass of water on getting up in the morning. This helps to cleanse the intestines. Use lemon instead of tamarind while preparing eatables. Drinking of tender coconut water is also beneficial. Wheat porridge at night is advised.Before going to bed apply a thin layer of cream of milk to cover the face. On waking up clean the face with cold water. Scrape a piece of turmeric on a rough surface using a few drops of water. Take out the ensuing paste and add a drop of linseed oil to it. Apply a thin layer of the paste to cover the entire face. After 30 minutes, clean the face using green gram powder.To complement the external treatment heat mahathiktha girutham and take 10 ml both in the morning and evening on empty stomach. This two pronged approach is found to be very effective in treating pimples, blackhead and acne.

Ayurvedic Home Remedies

Flowers as Ayurvedic Home Remedies

Ayurveda uses flowers to cure certain diseases. Flowers play an important role in our lives. Flowers of various hues and colours soothe your mood and relax your mind. The fragrance of certain flowers cools you down. Certain flowers can cure diseases when eaten. Following are some flowers used for treating diseases.

Rose

Even though many colours of roses are available the original roses are the best ones suited medicinally. This alone has the enchanting fragrance. Rosewater prepared from rose flowers is used as eyedrops to keep away all eye related infections. Kulkund made from rose cures ulcers of the stomach. The powder of dried rose petals acts as excellent laxatives.JasmineJasmine falls under the category of herbs which cure diseases just by inhaling them. For example, most of the mental disorders decrease in severity on inhaling jasmine flowers. It calms your mind.SunflowerOil obtained from the seeds of sunflower can be applied on acne. This promotes healing without suppuration. When applied on swollen joints it is found to reduce inflammation. Sunflower oil is used in preparing various dishes.Shoe flowerThe red five petaled shoe flower has excellent medicinal value.5-10 petals of the shoe flower are chewed. Drink a glass of water. This is found to cure ulcers of stomach. Also white discharge or leukorrhea can be treated this way.The petals of 4-5 flowers are ground into a paste and mixed in buttermilk. Drinking this buttermilk cleanses your blood. It also strengthens your heart.For hair fall, premature graying, and baldness etc a preparation made of shoe flower has proved to be beneficial. This is how you prepare it. Put petals of 50 shoe flowers in linseed oil and put this oil in a bottle. Wrap it with a thin white cloth and place it in sunlight for 10 days. Stir the oil once morning and evening. Filter the shoe flower out from linseed oil and mix coconut oil of equal quantity. This should be applied everyday on the scalp to prevent hair fall.Plantain flowerKnown for its excellent diuretic property dishes made of plantain flower are good in curing most of the stomach problems. They are also good at curing hemorrhoids. Some excellent dishes can be found here.Neem flowerGather neem flowers during the flowering season, clean and dry them. Powder the flowers and store them. This powder can be used in preparing rasam etc, to cure pitha and vadha related diseases. It also protects the liver.

Home Remedies For Acne

Home Remedies For Acne

Home remedies for acne work wonderfully well on skin. With proper supervision, you can get back the natural sheen and color of your skin with no side effects. With a two pronged approach of treating the problem internally as well as complementing it with external herbal application you can cure almost all of the skin afflictions that trouble mankind. This inside out approach cures the system of the basic defect that has caused this manifestation in the first place. In this article I will share with you some home remedies for acne.

Acne affects most of the population at least once in their lifetime. Teenagers are particularly prone to this problem due to the sudden spurt of hormonal activities in their bodies. There is a tempting desire to pop the acne cysts in spite of the eventual pain and infection. There is an unbearable itching sensation around the cysts.

An Ayurveda expert would advise you not to scratch the area or pop the cysts. If the white pus is expressed out by pressing the acne, it could lead to formation of black spots in those areas. These marks thus formed may remain stubborn in some cases and would worsen the appearance. If the cysts are left alone, they would gradually subside with appropriate care. It goes without saying that one needs to practice adequate self-discipline for an effective cure.

Regular application of Ayurvedic products like ‘kumkumadi lepam’, ‘chandanadi thailam’ etc on acne boils help in their subsidence. The skin will regain its lost luster over time. Also application of sandalwood paste is a good alternative. In this case, the paste is to be applied immediately on preparation. Tablets of sandalwood paste available readymade in shops will not suit this purpose.

Reduce the frequency of using soap to clean your face. Soap can remove the oil from the surface of skin. This would result in dry skin and can aggravate the acne boils. Instead just wash the face with plain cold water. Limit usage of soap on your face to twice or thrice a day.

Neelibringadhi oil can be gently massaged onto the hair roots once in two or three days. This will help in hair growth as well as clearing of dark rings around the eyes. This oil also helps in clearing up dark spots and blackheads. A warm water bath an hour after this application is found to yield good results.

Taking natural laxatives once a month for elimination of toxins is a very good practice which should be observed for at least three months. Kashayam made of tender kadukkai or chebulic myrobalan, curry leaves and grapes is a good laxative for this purpose.

Drink one or two glasses of water first thing in the morning. This helps in proper bowel movement and elimination of waste matter. Add more of greens and coconut to your regular diet. Avoid oily food substances. Tender coconut water and bananas in the mornings and wheat kanji in the evenings would be ideal.

Apply skin of milk on affected areas before going to bed. Splash cold water and wash the area off the next day morning. Rub a turmeric finger on rough surface and obtain a fine paste by adding a drop or two of linseed oil to it. Apply this paste to the pimples and leave it dry for 30 minutes. Clean off the area using green gram powder.

Mahathiktha gritham is taken 10 mg everyday morning on empty stomach. This helps in curing blackheads or comedones.

In the coming days I would share with you some time tested home remedies for acne.

Stomach Problems in Children

AYURVEDIC HOME REMEDIES

Stomach Problems in Children

Ayurvedic Home Remedies: Home Remedies for Children - 2

Stomach Problems in Children

Diarrhea is the frequent watery bowel movement caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. Impure drinking water, spoiled food, improper digestion etc can lead to diarhhea. ‘Body heat’ can also induce diarrhea in small kids. Diarrhea causes depletion in body fluids leads to dehydration. There is loss of water, sodium and other essential salts.

Symptoms of diarrhea include headaches, decreased blood pressure, fainting, unconsciousness, swelling of tongue, delirium, decreased urine output, dark urine, thirst, lethargy, sleepiness etc. If left untreated, diarrhea can be life-threatening.

If there is vomiting along with diarrhea, this can lead to a rapid depletion of body fluids. The immediate step in treating this condition is to replace the lost fluids and salt. Oral rehydration therapy is the best course of treatment. Here the patient is given a solution of salts and sugars by mouth. Intravenous administration can be done in extreme cases.

In case of diarrhea and blood in stool in children, this can be due to amoebic infection. Chances of contracting diarrhea in little kids who are fed breast milk are very rare. Breast milk provides the much needed immunity to children to fight diarrhea and amoebic infections.

Given below are some herbal remedies for children with blood in stool.

Sweet flag or Calamus has been used extensively for ages in treating stomach disorders. It has a very distinctive smell, and its essential oil is used in perfume industry. It has been used in Chinese and Indian herbal traditions. Ayurveda uses Calamus for treating digestive disorders.

Dry sweet flag root is rubbed against a clean rough surface adding a few drops of water. The ensuing fine paste is collected. The paste is smeared onto the child’s tongue as a thin paste once.This can be done in the mornings and evenings to treat bloody watery stools in children.

Carom seeds or omam (Tamil) has been used in Indian traditional medicine for treating digestive disorders. Studies have shown that it arrests the growth of pathogens in stomach while leaving the beneficial flora unaffected. Pirandai (Cissus) is an herb that has gastroprotective properties.

Take a handful of pirandai leaves. Take a table spoon of carom seeds and powder it coarsely.Heat the leaves and powdered carom seeds mildly on a pan. Remove from heat and extract the juice from the leaves. This juice a spoonful can be given in the mornings and evenings. Make a fresh preparation each time. This is an effective remedy for diarrhea and bloody stool in children.

Vasambu (Sweet flag), omam (Carom seeds) chukku (dried ginger), turmeric, perungayam (asafoetida) are taken in equal quantities, fried and ground to a fine powder. A pinch of this powder is given in vilakennai (castor oil) in case of bloated stomach. Otherwise this powder can be given in honey. This powder is found to be effective in treating bloody stools and diarrhea in children.

Mint leaf (pudhina) is yet another herb used extensively in treating gastric disorders. It is found to relieve bloated stomach, and mint tea is found to help with stomach pain.

Take a handful of pudhina (mint) leaves in an earthen pot. Add a cup of water and heat it. Reduce it to quarter of a cup. Filter out the water with a sieve. This water or this mint decoction is given twice a day to treat diarrhea.

How Green is This Medicine?

How Green is This Medicine?

Ayurveda, the oldest health system in the world, is going in for a makeover, but is it all for the good? Till now, the biggest innovation had been coloured ayurvedic pills and capsules. But the government’s recent amendment of the 63-year-old Drugs and Cosmetics Act appears to allow a more fundamental change — ayurvedic medicine can now contain anti-oxidants, flavouring agents, preservatives and sweeteners. So is ayurveda about to lose its unique organic wholesomeness?

Ayurveda practitioners and drug-makers don’t think so. They say the additives, natural or synthetic, must be in permissible quantities in order that the medicine retains its natural properties. “The purpose of allowing the use of anti-oxidants or sweeteners is to increase the shelf life of the ayurvedic medicines,” says Dr S K Sharma, advisor to the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH). The reasoning is that once they last longer, it would be easier to market ayurvedic medicines nationally and internationally.

But Sharma cautions that the changed law is not “purely for commercial reasons. There is a strong need for scientific innovation. It’s time that we tried to improve ayurvedic medicines.” So, the anti-oxidants that are being allowed to use will prevent the medicine from decomposing. The additives, says Sharma, will only help in making ayurvedic medicines more stable than ever before.

Some ayurvedic practitioners admit that there are legitimate concerns about additives. Dr V V Doiphode, dean of Pune University’s Department of Ayurveda, stresses the importance of testing any product before it is added to an ayurvedic drug. “The onus is on the drug-makers to ensure these (additives) aren’t detrimental to health,” he says. For that they will have to conduct extensive research and lab testing.

There are other ways of ensuring compliance, not least guidelines issued by the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The IPC sets strict standards for drugs and other pharmaceutical products. Add to this, the wording of the amended Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which allows “only natural colouring agents as permitted under rule 26 of Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules 1955 for ayurveda, siddha and unani drugs.”

But what if someone wanted to market a flavoured chyawanprash, say chocolate, to attract the international market? Would that be more synthetic than traditional chyawanprash? Not really, so long as it retains its original properties, says Ranjit Puranik, CEO of Shree Dootapapeshwar Ltd, ayurvedic drug-maker and exporter.

The loophole, however, is that a product like chyawanprash, which is made of 54 herbs — of which amla (gooseberry) is the main — can be marketed internationally as a dietary supplement rather than a medicine. If it has to be marketed as a medicine, then all the 54 herbs have to go through a standardisation process that will certify that none of the herbs are harmful to health.

The amended act allows synthetic additives in ayurvedic drugs but insists they “carry a statutory warning stating the name and quantity of the artificial sweetener.” Puranik says it’s up to the individual manufacturer to decide how natural he wants the ayurvedic drug to be. And if he uses a large quantity of synthetic additive “he clearly can’t then sell the product as ayurveda”.

That may affect ayurvedic core market, but the holistic health treatment has a long way to go in persuading India and the wider world of the goodness of its old-style organic approach to healing. Industry experts estimate that the global market for ayurveda is worth $120 billion. But India’s ayurveda exports are a paltry Rs 450 crore or $91 million. China and Sri Lanka lead the world in ayurveda manufacture and export.

India is finally trying to close the gap by adding innovation to the ayurveda mix. “These medicines can be tweaked a bit to suit people’s tastes, but the medicinal properties should be maintained. Say for instance, a popular ayurvedic medicine, kashayam, is now available in the form of capsules and tablets. This has been achieved by spray drying but the original properties are not tinkered with.” says V G Udayakumar, president of the Kerala-based Ayurveda Medical Association of India. He believes the same can be applicable to other medicines too.

But there’s some way to go before the humble hajmola becomes the world’s prescribed cure for indigestion.