Health Care : Current Reviews

Abstract

Treatment of malnourished childrens by Ayurvedic principles w.s.r to Charakokta Dashemani

Sudhir Joshi

Malnutrition in children is a serious threat to any civilization. The causes of this condition are manifold. Tremendous efforts are being carried out for resolving this problem. In this situation Ayurved can play a definitive role and henceforth a project was conceived aiming at improving the weight of malnourished children. Charak samhita- a mainstay for treatment purpose in Ayurved has described fifty groups, each comprising ten medicinal plants, known as dashemaani that are highly specific, condition oriented plants. In the present study, as per principles of Ayurved, the malnourished children were considered in Kaarshya condition/ Ras, Rakta, Maansa dhatu kshaya i.e condition of depleted muscle and fatty tissue and treated in that congruence. Nine children were selected for the study. To rectify it Vidarikand-Ipomoea digitata, a herb indicated in Brimhaniya-(drugs which increase weight of body) and Snehopag (drugs that increase the unctuousness and which oleate the body) dashemani and Yashtimadhu- Glychrhizza glabra indicated in Jivniya (which increase vitality of body) and Snehopag dashemani were selected. A trial of combination of Yashtimadhu and Vidarikand for treatment of malnutrition hasn’t been carried out before but various research pointing towards their potential have done in an individual manner. Sonia et al in their paper “Ksheervidar( Ipomoea Digitata) an underutilised medicinal plant- an update “ have stressed its multiple use along with its nutritional values. In same way various studies have been done on Yashtimadhu like its counteracting effect against radiation by Debrata das et al in their paper “Protective effect of Yashtimadhu against side effects of radiation/chemotherapy in head and neck malignanacies, but an exclusive study of Yashtimadhu on weight gain has not been done and hence the study was designed. In the current study the results obtained were quite encouraging. Five children were upgraded weight wise and other children too showed moderate weight gain. Improvement in subjective criteria showed holistic effects of drugs. The results of this pilot project shows the huge potential Ayurved can offer in solving in this grave problem and its large scale study and implementation would be really worthy.

Published Date: 2021-07-30; Received Date: 2021-06-24