sure cure for heart ailments: US experts

By Bhaskar Roy
Times News Network
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Indraprasth - Medical experts in the US have turned to
Ayurved after findings that India's alternative system
of healing can make a dent in the heart attack rates.

Baffled by the fact that enormous resources and latest
medical technology have failed to lower the incidence of
cardio-vascular diseases, they have come here to explore
possibilities of productive research in herbal medicine.

"We are bringing the technology to promote the medicine
system of an ancient civilisation," says Robert
Schneider, one of the 15 American experts currently
participating in a workshop along with the Ayurved
practitioners here.

What brought the focus on the Indian healing system was a
paper in Stroke, the journal of the American Heart
Association, which claimed that with meditation one could
open up the clogged heart arteries.

Another medical journal reported that it was possible to
control blood pressure as much with yoga as medicine.
Schneider claims that heart-induced death risks can be
reduced by 50 per cent by resorting to the Vedic mode of
healing.


But the fact is that Ayurved experts do not have the
license to practise in the US . Since the Federal Drug
Administration (FDA) does not recognise Ayurved as a
discipline, herbal medicine cannot be sold in the US
market. It is sold under the `nutritional supplement'
tag.

Still, Mishra points out, there is demand for Ayurved for
problems like cancer, arthritis, lever and heart
ailments. He admits it is tough to comply with the
stringent regulations of FDA. Perhaps it is here that
Ayurved experts in the US can play a role.

The fact that two million people in America practise
meditation seems to have set the stage for greater
acceptability of Ayurved there.