Heavy metals in Traditional Ayurvedic formulations -2

By Jessy Sebastian, Alex Thomas, D. Suresh Kumar

The branch of Ayurveda that deals with calcined minerals and metals is known as rasasastra (science of mercury). It has a large literature dating from the end of the first millennium A.D. The tradition of rasasastra shares some features with alchemy prevalent in medieval Europe (Wujastyk, 2001). Ayurvedic bhasmas are recommended at very low doses, often in divided doses, and for a specific period of time (Raisuddin, 2004). This suggests that the ancient authors might have been aware of the dangers of improper administration. Mainstream Ayurveda treatises like Susruta Samhita, Caraka Samhita, Ashtangasamgraha and Ashtagahidaya do not deal with calcined minerals and metals.

The identities of many of the tested products were also not clearly described in some earlier reports dealing with heavy metal content of Ayurvedic medicines. Van Schalkwyk et al (2006) reported eight cases of lead poisoning associated with ingestion of Ayurvedic medicines. The identities of only two of these remedies were known, the rest being described as “a mixture of brown Ayurvedic powders and black tablets from India”. There are instances where toxic Ayurvedic products are described as “ten different Ayurvedic tablets” (Dargan et al, 2008) or “small brown tablet” (Roche et al, 2005).

The present study is the first of its kind reporting the absence of heavy metals in ayurvedic medicines prepared exclusively with herbs. 126 ayurvedic formulations manufactured by 32 companies were analyzed in the present study. All of them conform to the heavy metal specifications set by Government of India, according to which, lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury in any Ayurveda, Siddha or Unani medicine should not exceed 10, 3, 0.3 and 1 ppm respectively (Lohar, 2011). This study shows that traditional ayurvedic medicines manufactured in the province of Kerala contain heavy metals below the limits set by Government of India.

References

  • Dargan, P.I., Gawarammana, I.B., Archer, J.R.H., House, I.M., Shaw, D., Wood, D.M.,
    “Heavy metal poisoning from Ayurvedic traditional medicines: an emerging problem? “,
    Int. J. Environ. Health, 2: pp 463-474, 2008.
  • Gunturu, K.S., Nagarajan, P., McPhedran, P., Goodman, T.R., Hodson, M.E., Strout, M.P.,
    “Ayurvedic herbal medicine and lead poisoning”, J. Hematol. Oncol., 4: p 51, 2011.
  • Hore, P., Ahmed, M., Ehrlich, J., Ng, C., Steffen, L., Sedlar, S., Curry-Johnson, P., Graber, N., Nagin, D., Clark, N., Saper, R., Sucosky, M.S., “ Lead poisoning in pregnant women who used ayurvedic medications from India-New York City, 2011-2012”, Morbid. Mortal. Weekly Rep., 61: pp 641-646, 2012.
  • Lohar D.R., Protocol for Testing of Ayurvedic, Siddha & Unani Medicines, Pharmacopoeial Laboratory for Indian Medicines, Ghaziabad, pp. 36, 2011.
  • Raisuddin, S., “Ayurvedic bhasmas”, In Scientific Basis for Ayurvedic Therapies (Edited by Lakshmi Chandra Mishra), CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp. 83-100, 2004.
  • Raviraja, A., Babu, G.N.V., Sehgal, A., Saper, R.B., Jayawardene, I., Amarasiriwardena, C.J., Venkatesh, T.,” Three cases of lead toxicity associated with consumption of ayurvedic Medicines”, Ind. J. Clin. Biochem., 25: pp 326-329, 2010.
  • Roche, A., Florkowski, C., Walmsley, T., “ Lead poisoning due to ingestion of Indian herbal remedies”, New Zealand Med. J., 118: pp U 1587, 2005.
  • Saper, R.B., Kales, S.N., Paquin, J., Burns, M. J., Eisenberg, D.M., Davis, R.B., Phillips, R.S,” Heavy metal content of ayurvedic herbal medicine products”, J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 292: pp 2868-2873, 2004.
  • Saper, R.B., Phillips, R.S., Sehgal, A., Khouri, N., Davis, R.B., Paquin, J.,Thuppil, V., Kales, S.N., “ Lead, mercury and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured ayurvedic medicines sold via the internet”, J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 300: pp 915-923, 2008.
  • van Schalkwyk, J., Davidson, J., Palmer, B., Hope, V.,” Ayurvedic medicine: patients in peril from plumbism”, New Zealand Med. J., 119: pp 65-70, 2006.
  • Wukastyk, D. The Roots of Ayurveda, Penguin Books Ltd, London, England, pp. 14-15., 2001.

If you are interested in reading 'Complete Study Report'published in Aryavaidyan(Ayurveda Journal published by Arya Vaidya Shala, Kottakkal)
Click Here to Download This research paper
After you're done, click here to Get Password for Unzipping your downloaded file