why people buy Ayurvedic herbs?
by wallygrom
Question by : why people buy Ayurvedic herbs?
i’m planning to buy myself. with the thousand yrs of existence with many of the herbs proven scientifically to be effective and some are even used in commercial medicines. but still, i ned more insights from other buyers…
Best answer:
Answer by Gary Y
Well, just because something has existed for thousands of years, it doesn’t mean it works. And very few herbs have been actually proved scientifically to be effective; and more importantly, safe. Science actually investigates many promising crude drugs of plant origin, but typically they will isolate the active chemical compounds, and after much testing refine or synthesise them into pure, consistent medicines that then fall under tight regulatory controls.
Herbal drugs are problematic as they are unstandardised; the quality and strength is subject to seasonal and other variations, thus they are untested and uncontrolled. Safety, risks, side effects and interactions are unknown, they are typically handed out by people with little or no medical training, and many have been found to be contaminated with all sorts of toxins including heavy metals.
In fact, Ayurvedic can contain very dangerous quantities of heavy metals, including lead, mercury, thallium and arsenic; not just as contaminants, they are added deliberately in order to supposedly return the body to health by ‘rebalancing’ essential minerals.
From Wikipedia (always read the sources):
“Safety (Ayurvedic)
Rasa shastra, the practice of adding metals, minerals or gems to herbs, is a source of toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic.[77] Adverse reactions to herbs due to their pharmacology are described in traditional ayurvedic texts, but ayurvedic practitioners are reluctant to admit that herbs could be toxic and the reliable information on herbal toxicity is not readily available.[78]
A 2008 study of more than 230 products found that approximately 20% of remedies (and 40% of rasa shastra medicines) purchased over the Internet from both US and Indian suppliers contained lead, mercury or arsenic.[77][80][81]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurvedic#Safety
Last year, the New South Wales (Australia) government issued a safety warning for Ayurvedic, after a man died from lead poisoning:
“According to the Public Health Unit Director of Sydney South West Area Health Service, Dr Stephen Conaty, testing of a sample of the Ayurvedic medicine showed that it contained high levels of mercury, arsenic and especially high levels of lead. The medicine contained 2.3% lead by weight.”
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/2010/20100804_01.html
Perhaps you need to rethink this idea of yours?
What do you think? Answer below!
The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine
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