C asks: “I have a friend who was an ayurveda practitioner and teacher for years before returning to the Catholic faith. She insists that ayurveda is scientifically proven etc. Not knowing anything about it, I’ve been searching the internet for more information. Is Ayurveda science or pseudoscience?”
Ayurvedic medicine is a pseudoscience because it is not scientifically proven.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Ayurvedic medicine to date are reports of lead, mercury and arsenic found in some herbal preparations that were being sold in the U.S. and on international markets. Between 1978 and 2009, more than 80 cases of lead poisoning were reported in the medical literature in people who use Ayurvedic mixtures.
This is not surprising because practitioners believe small amounts of lead are known to calm the stomach. They use small amounts of arsenic to treat cancer and believe the toxic effect of mercury can kill bacteria.
There are also potentially dangerous drug interactions with some of the herbal concoctions prepared by Ayurvedic doctors.
As this blog reports, the practice of Ayurvedic medicine is based on a belief in doshas – primary life forces – which they believe exist in every human being. (Belief in these universal life forces is part of a pantheistic world view that is not compatible with Christianity.) It is believed that each person is dominated by one of three doshas and that this dominant dosha is responsible for the person’s physical, emotional and spiritual characteristics.
Practitioners of ayurvedic medicine diagnose patients by observing the body’s nine “doors” – eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, genitalia and anus – as well as their fingernails, tongue and lips. Through these observations, along with listening to their lungs and heart, the practitioner determines the state of these doshas. Treatment involves the rebalancing of these doshas so that the organs of the body can work together, and remain in unison with the environment and cosmos. Other factors, such as diet, relationships, emotions, lifestyle, and even the seasons and/or time of day are all factored into a possible treatment protocol.
Although some of the herbs used in Ayurvedic medicines have shown some promise in laboratory tests on rodents, there have been too few randomized studies on humans to make any determination about their effectiveness.
The religious roots of Ayurvedic medicine is evident in that it emerged from an ancient body of knowledge known as the Vedas. The Vedas is the same text from which India developed its moral, religious, cultural and medical codes, so it is not possible to separate the physiological aspects from the spiritual as the two are inherently intertwined – i.e., belief in the spiritual concept of doshas and its emphasis on the practice is yoga, visual imagery, meditation and breathing exercises.
However, science may find some usefulness in other aspects of Ayurvedic medicine, such as its emphasis on proper diet and exercise, or in any of a number of the herbs used in the practice – but this would no longer be Ayurvedic medicine.
Your friend’s belief that Ayurvedic medicine is supported by science is definitely premature.
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
Send your New Age questions to newage@womenofgrace.com
