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Chyawanprash clinical efficacy & safety studies find correlation with documented authoritative texts: Dr DBA Narayana
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
February 26 , 2017
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Chyawanprash, a time-tested ayurvedic formulation of over 41 medicinal
herbs that aid in boosting the immune system has demonstrated to be both
efficacious and safe across in its human study. It has also proven to
co-relate with documented authoritative texts like the Granthas, said Dr
DBA Narayana, chief scientific officer, Ayurvidye Trust.
The
first historically documented formula for chyawanprash appears in the
Charaka Samhita, the ancient ayurvedic treatise. “We did a review paper
spanning for six months. All that we have tried to do was to a review
all published human studies to prove the benefits of this herbal tonic
which is prescribed for multiple health benefits,” he added.
“We
did not consider any study done on animals, in-vitro and cells. What
this study does is that it highlights the benefits of chyawanprash to
show published human studies are co-relatable to the Granthas. We also
looked at identifying gaps This is because science has also progressed
with new evaluation tools, biomarkers which was not known 10-15 years
ago,” Dr Narayana told Pharmabiz.
With time chyawanprash has
become popular, more and more studies have happened. This review can
provide researches the data of existing studies and what additional
studies are required. The review took about six months and was submitted
for Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which is a system for intellectual
property in the digital environment in October 2017, he said.
The
article titled chyawanprash: A review of therapeutic benefits as in
authoritative texts and documented clinical literature by Dr. Narayana
as the lead author along with scientists of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy,
Coimbatore was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology which is a
peer European publication.
It provides an ethnopharmacological
relevance which highlights chyawanprash, as traditional immune booster
recipe, with long history of ethnic origin, household preparation and
usage. There are even mythological stories about the origin of this
recipe including its nomenclature. In the last six decades, CP, because
of entrepreneurial actions of some research Vaidyas is manufactured and
marketed like any healthcare product. Currently, CP has acquired a large
accepted user base in India and globally, stated Dr Narayana in the
article.
Authoritative texts which are recognized by the Drugs
and Cosmetics Act of India were searched for recipes, processes, and
other technical details of CP. Labels of marketing CP products in India
were studied for the health claims. Electronic search for studies of CP
on efficacy and safety data were performed in PubMed/MEDLINE and DHARA
(Digital Helpline for Ayurveda Research Articles), and ayurvedic books
were also accessed for clinical studies.
The documented clinical
studies from electronic databases and ayurvedic books evidenced that
individuals who consume CP regularly for a definite period of time
showed improvement in overall health and immunity. However, most of the
clinical studies in this review are of smaller sample size and short
duration. Further, limitation to access and review significant data on
traditional products like CP in electronic databases was noted.
“Randomized
controlled trials of high quality with larger sample size and longer
follow-up are needed to have significant evidence on the clinical use of
CP as immunity booster. Additional studies involving measurement of
current biomarkers of immunity pre- and post-consumption of the product
and benefits accruing as an adjuvant are suggested to the current
scientific standards. More efforts are needed to digitize literature of
traditional products to make global acceptance” said Dr Narayana.
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