Is Ayurveda effective against diabetes? Despite what some studies say, this is the reality.

ayurvedic It’s practically a way of life coming from traditional culture of India and Nepal. It includes Ayurvedic nutrition, as well as all kinds of massages, cleansing treatments and, of course, some herbal treatment. Today it was shown that, in general, all these practices lack of any scientific evidence. However, they remain deeply rooted among the populations of these countries. They even reached the West in the form new age fashion. Therefore, there are scientists who still exploring some of these natural remediesto close the dilemma once and for all. And it was in one of those investigations where international group of scientists found some usefulness among some Ayurvedic treatments for the treatment type 2 diabetes.

This may have been the argument needed by the defenders of Ayurveda to maintain their position. However, if we analyze the study published in Frontiers of pharmacology, we will see that in fact not everything is gold that seems, and not everything that the medicine promises to cure. In fact, the authors of the study are honest about this in everything.

In this case, there have been several studies examining the effectiveness of various herbal ayurvedic treatments for the treatment of people with diabetes. So they found that some of these plants actually help reduce some of the parameters associated with this disease. However, the authors of the study themselves always argue that the methodology of the studies they analyzed was poor Or just not disclosed. And the fact is that not everything that is published is reliable. as such. To find out whether Ayurveda can really help diabetic patients, it is necessary to repeat these studies and, for that matter, to plan the procedures correctly.

Not everything traditional is trustworthy

Centuries ago, women gave birth in latrines. Does this mean that it is advisable to do it today? Of course not. Our grandfathers and grandmothers drank fresh milk. At best they cooked, but not always. Should we give up pasteurized milk today? Obviously not. The same with purified water and many other things.

Just because something is natural or traditional doesn’t mean it’s healthier or we should forego it. The progress of science. If women who gave birth in latrines or our grandparents had everything we have today, they would certainly behave differently.

With traditional medicine, Ayurvedic or not, the same thing happens. When there wasn’t Scientific achievements, the population had no choice but to resort to plants or even animals. In India it was Ayurveda, in China it was traditional medicine, and here in Europe it is bloodletting, a lot of bloodletting.

Most of these treatments were not in the least effective, but that was what it was. Others may have some effect. For this reason, modern medicine has indeed studied many of them in search of active principles which can provide well-designed drugs with adequate doses, well-analyzed effects and scientific support. That’s how Chinese chemistry tyty found a cure for malaria while looking through books on traditional medicine in his country.

Lots of drugs today come from plants. Aspirin, for example. But plants are not used directly but are used as an ingredient or inspiration for safer drugs. That is why it is worth studying Ayurveda. Because the truth that in his arsenal may be interesting natural compounds. But just because they exist does not mean that everything dictated by Indian tradition is acceptable with modern scientific advances.

Ayurveda and diabetes

A recently published study analyzed 199 randomized clinical trials in which 21,191 people participated. They analyzed the impact of a total 98 Ayurvedic medicines.

To analyze whether these substances from the Ayurvedic tradition against diabetes are effective, glycated hemoglobin. This is a parameter that analyzes how the cells last used glucose. three months. This is much more useful than measuring glucose at a certain time, as is usually done in most tests, or as diabetics themselves do daily. It is rather used to create first diagnosis or periodically check progression of the disease after the start of treatment.

In these cases, glycated hemoglobin levels were reduced by consuming plants such as Aegle marmelos, Boswellia serrata Roxb., Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Mmordica charantia or Nigella sativa, among other things. In addition, some of them also reduced fasting blood glucose level.

So far, so good. However, the authors themselves admit that in most of the studies the methodology was not adequately stated, so it would be necessary to repeat them with some margin. best clinical trial design.

If, by repeating them in this way, these positive results continue to be observed, perhaps we are dealing with plants that could potentially become active ingredients in medicines. As happened to Tu Yuyou when he was looking for a cure for malaria. But that doesn’t make everything contain ayurvedic term be trustworthy

In fact, in India, many coronavirus outbreaks have intensified due to the defense of homeopathy and Ayurvedic medicine against vaccines. As for food, in Ayurveda we find senseless food bans, some are as dangerous as advising you not to drink water for hours. It is not based on nutritional requirements, but on something more philosophical and spiritual and, of course, has no scientific evidence.

So no, as there are some plants in traditional Indian medicine that could help. control glucose levels in the blood of people with type 2 diabetes, this does not mean that Ayurvedic medicine or nutrition suddenly received the support of science. This requires more than just published research. Evidence is also needed.