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CHAPTER 5
Herbs and Their Role in Human Health

Secret of health both for mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate trouble but to live in present moment wisely and earnestly.

Buddha

Before human beings had started practicing agriculture, they were knowing the usefulness of medicinal plants. Herbal medicines are one of the most ancient forms of health care for mankind. History tells that the use of plants for healing purposes has been prevalent around the globe in all cultures of civilization. The traditions of medicinal use of plants, as understood by the earlier generations are passed on to the next generation. In present day situation, this wealth of knowledge about use of plants as a source of medicine is being preserved by traditional physicians and herbal practitioners of different ethnic societies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed over 21,000 species (including synonyms) that have been reported for medicinal uses around the world. Moreover, it estimates that more than 80 % of the world’s population even today relies on traditional health care. It was also reported that 30 % or more of modern drugs were derived from plant sources. This shows the importance of plants in present times. India and China are principal and largest users of medicinal plants. China has listed approximately 500 species of plants as official drugs. Around 30 to 60 % medicines consumed account for traditional Chinese herbal products which second most used medical system after Western allopathic system. The current market size of herbs and natural health products in China is US$ 650 milion. In India 60 % of registered physicians are involved in non-allopathic systems of medicine which includes Ayurveda, homeopathy, unani etc. The Indian herbal drug market size is about US$ 1 billion. In the last decade the market for herbal products has increased tenfold in United States alone. There is a greater interest in complementary and alternative medicines including herbal medicines. The current potential of herbal medicine is estimated about $ 80-250 biilion in Europe and USA. Herbal medicines alone in US pharmaceuticals constitute a multi billion dollar business. Medicinal plant based drug industries is progressing very fast in India.

It is difficult to give precise definition of medicinal plant. Plants produce wide array of bioactive principles and constitute a rich source of medicines. The herbal products can be isolated and identified as potential for medicines. Herbal medicines are prepared from a variety of plant parts as whole plant, leaves, stems, rhizome, flowers roots, flowers, bark, etc. They usually contain biologically active ingredients and are used primarily for treating mild or chronic ailments. The valueable medicinal properties of different plants are due to the presence of several constituents i.e. saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids etc. Artemisinin produced by Artemisia annaua plant is very effective against Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax and also drug resistant parasite. For 2,000 years powdered root of Rauvofia serpentina has been used in treatment of mental illness in india.

In India 15,000 plant species have been identified and out of which 7,000 to 8,500 plants are used by traditional communities for curing various disesaes. It is generally estimated that over 6,000 traditional plants in India are in real commercial use.

Aromatic plants are a special class of plants used for their aroma and flavour. Many of them are exclusively used also for medicinal purposes in aromatherapy as well as in various systems of medicine. Similarly a number of medicinal plants also produce essential oils as well as being used for perfumery e.g. Petroselinum sativum, Daucus carota, Anethum graveolens and Pimpinella anisum etc.

India being one of the mega biodiversity centers of the world is one of the richest countries in plant wealth due to its wide range of geographical, ecological and biological diversities. The country possesses typical tropical to temperate ecological zones, warm humid to dry hot arid areas apart from cold desert. Accordingly, India has been considered as a treasure house for valuable biotic entities. Many of the plant species are directly or indirectly in use as the sources of raw materials for medicinal and cosmetic industries, the oldest medicinal system in Indian sub-continent. The Charak Samhita, an age old (1,000 BC) written document on herbal therapy, reports on the production of about 340 herbal drugs and their indigenous uses. Human being has been in a very old and common relationship in nature. Possibly, early human beings had learnt usefulness of medicinal herbs before they started practicing agriculture.

Ayurveda is the science that came into existence since ancient era. Ayurvedic classical formulations and single herbs have been tested for thousands of years on people and have proved safe.

Ayurvedic Herbs

The herbs used in Ayurveda are different from each other, in terms of a number of factors. A number of herbs vary according to their taste, while others are categorized according to their medicinal value. There are mainly three different categories of herbs: mild, strong and toxic. Ayurvedic physicians generally use mild herbs, because of their nutritive, energetic and therapeutic values. Use of herbs is regarded as the friendly way of treatment, because very less or no side effects are associated with them. That is why it is considered as the most safest and inexpensive healing. Herbs are edible plants in other words concentrated food. Usually they are safe, nutritionally rich and are useful for their content of compounds they can nourish tissues and support the body’s own healing process. They are powerful but seldom addictive.

According perfect health is achievable only when body, mind and soul are in harmony with each other and with cosmic surroundings. Since Ayurveda is holistic method of healing, it gives ways and means of establishing harmony with society; give more emphasis on one’s body constitution and personal health. After knowing all these treatment modalities are designed.

Ayurveda is an integral part of Indian culture. Without some awareness of about the theory of Ayurvedic medicines and different body purification methods, it is not possible to convince the people about their importance in health.

Classification of Ayurvedic Herbs

Acharya Charak has given excellent ideal definition of herb and classified Ayurvedic medicines into three groups.

1. Food 2. Medicines 3. Poisons

Organic materials useful for the growth i.e. wheat, rice, milk, dates, honey etc. are classified as foods, which are digested and assimilated in body.

Substances, which after entering the body get eliminated from the body via gastrointestinal tract within a specified period of time after their corrective role is over, are termed medicines. This includes most herbs which affect bodily processes, like increased sweating that comes with the use of hot herb ginger, but do not function as foods.

The last group poison is harmful to the tissues and gets absorbed within them, causing many harmful effects. The accumulation of such poisonous substances seriously affects functional capacity of particular body organ and ultimately entire body, which is experienced with various types of heavy metal toxicity in modern polluted environment.

As per Charak Samhita, an ideal herbal medicine should have four qualities.

1. It should be easily available
2. It should have power to eradicate the disease without producing any side effects
3. It should be made into the right direction
4. It should possess all qualities of taste, energy, and post digestive effect to produce desired effect.

It is observed that some food have both nutritional and medicinal properties e.g. barley is a food and also having medicinal value being used as diuretic. Similarly Ashwagandha herb has muscle building property. By this theory all synthetic drugs are poisons and must have side effects, while Ayurvedic medicines being natural of plant origin have no side effect.

Herbs are also classified on the basis of their effect on doshas, dhatus, mala and different systems of the body.

Properties of Herbs

Like food, all herbs are composed of following three basic factors.

1. Panchamahabhutas
2. Six tastes
3. Twenty attributes

All herbs are grouped into three categories according to their properties, mild, moderate and strong. Strong herbs like bhallataka which causes severe allergic reactions. Herbs with medium potency include herbs with astringent, bitter and pungent taste, like oak bark, cayenne have short term action. On the other mild herbs which include Amla, Brahmi, Ashwagandha etc. can also function as food additives.

Energy of Herbs

The main energy of herbs is their heating or cooling properties, which is their most powerful and immediate effect upon our bodily functions.

Generally energy follows taste. Pungent, sour and salty tastes are having heating properties, while bitter, astringent and sweet tastes have cooling action.

Heating herbs promote warmth, circulation, digestion, and motivation. In excess they create burning sensation, irritation, seating, thirst, dizziness, fatigue and exhaustion. They increase pitta(agni) and decrease vata (air) and kapha(water).

Cooling herbs create a sense of refreshment. They promote detoxification and clarity. They tend to clear pitta and blood but can also increase vata and kapha. When taken in excess, cooling herbs produce undesirable coldness, sadness, nervousness, poor memory and gradual degenaration. Pungent taste present in chilies, ginger, hot pepper has heating effect. Similarly, yoghurt are also having heating action. Salt is also having heating action.

Sweet taste is cooling as sugar solution counteracts burning sensation in the body. Bitter and cold herbs are often synonymous as bitter herb like gentian reduces fever and inflammation. Astringent taste has constricting, which is the action of something cold like ice. Substances with this taste include alum, bark of oak tree etc. Heating and cooling energy of herbs indicate that these herbs contain energies of fire and water, respectively. Pungent taste is the most heating taste, followed by sour and salty the least. Bitter taste is most cooling, followed by astringent and last is sweet. Generally energy dominates over taste.

Rasa, Virya Vipica and Prabhava Principle

Rasa

Rasa means taste of herb. Taste of herb is not incidental, but is an indication of its properties. Different tastes possess different effects. There is general recognition that spicy, pungent herbs tend to be heating or stimulating. Rasa also means ‘essence’. Taste thus indicates essence of plant. Ayurveda recognizes six main tastes: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. These derive from five elements; each taste is composed of two elements. Sweet taste is basically that of sugars and starchs. Sour taste is of fermented or acidic things. Salty is of salts and alkalies. Pungent is the same as spicy or acrid and is often aromatics. Bitter is the bitter herbs like golden seal, gentian. Astringent taste has a constricting quality, as herbs that contain tannin, like oak bark. Any food material or medicine herb put into mouth, the first experience is its taste.

Virya

Virya is the potency by which the action of a substance takes place. It literally means vigour. Hence any herb devoid of virya will be inactive. It is also seen that often a drug or herb loses its potency after a certain amount of time. This can be owing to the effect of time or improper processing or storage. Virya is the most active attribute of a substance. Out of the twenty primary attributes only eight have the potential to become virya. They are light and heavy, cold and hot, unctuous and rough, and soft and sharp. However, on the basis of concept of agni, virya has ultimately been grouped into two types either cold or hot.

Vipica

Post digestive effect is inferred from the final action of the ingested food or medicine. The final post digestive effect of taste on body, mind and consciousness is called vipica. Sweet and salty taste have sweet vipica, sour taste has sour vipica, but vipica of pungent, bitter and astringent tastes all are pungent. If one knows the taste, energy and post digestive effect of a herb or food, it is simple to understand its action on bodily systems. This knowledge is essential for healing or cooking. For example, when an individual eats hot chilly pepper, he or she will immediately experience its pungent taste. Heating energy and next day observe the burning sensation in feces and urine.

Prabhava

Apart from energies, all herbs possess a special healing property, which in called prabhava. It is observed that two types of herbs with same taste, energy, differ in their therapeutic effect; it could be due to action of prabhava. Although it is difficult to explain the exact nature of prabhava Most commonly, it refers to the affinity of an herb for the particular region of the body or for a particular disease. For example tulsi (Basil) is classified as heating herb, but therapeutically helps to clear heat and reduce fever. This means that whatever the cause of fever, tulsi is indicated and this is its prabhava.

Types of Prabhava

1. Antitoxic: some plants like Shirisha show this type of action.
2. Bactericidal: some plants like guggul, myrrh, garlic have this property.
3. Purgatives: some bitter herbs have this prabhava.

Ghee and milk both are sweet in rasa and vipica and cold in potency, but ghee increases agni, milk does not.

Dose and Preparation

Ayurvedic herbs can be consumed in any number of ways. The most common way of ingesting them is as powdered dry herb stirred into something mushy and swallowed. The material into which herb is strirred is called vehicle (anupam). The anupam is selected for its ability to pacify the dosha that the medicine is treating and for its ability to carry the herb to the dosha being targeted. The most common vehicles are honey for kapha, ghee for pitta and warm milk for vata. Generally it is advised to take herb alongwith honey to reaxh the herb at target site.

Therapeutic Effects of Herb

Like allopathic drugs, Ayurvedic herbs also have various therapeutic properties like diuretic (increasing in urination), diaphoretic (promoting sweating) etc. All medicinal substances are made up of panchmahabhutas. These substances after entering the body converted into five elements. In elemental state they influence respective dhatus, tissues and systems. The action of these chemical could be localized to any particular organ or systemic affecting the whole body. Also when taken into combined formulae they are more effective. It is rare to find herb sold alone in herbal pharmacies. There are some exceptions like amla, shatawari, ashwangandha etc. Herbs when taken together in formulae viz; virechan churna, sudarshan churna, vatari churna, triphala churna etc. of great therapeutically value.

Selection, dosage of herbal medicine will vary with the patient, which depends upon his/her prakruti, digestive power, age, potency of medicine etc. Herbs are safe and effective, if taken correctly. Rarely some herbs are found unsafe. Long term usage is the key to the herbal medicines, sometimes large dose is required to get the required results. Ghee carries the herb deep into the tissues. Milk counteracts pitta. Honey clears cough.

The Ayurvedic treatment is entirely based on herbs, which have certain medicinal value or property. In the ancient times, the Indian sages believed that Ayurvedic herbs are one-stop solutions to cure a number of health related problems and diseases. They conducted thorough study about the same, experimented with herbs to arrive at accurate conclusions about the efficacy of different plants and herbs that have medical value.

Most of the Ayurvedic herbs, thus formulated are free of side effects or reactions. This is the reason why its popularity grow across the globe. The Ayurvedic herbs that have medicinal quality provide rational means for the treatment of many internal diseases, which are otherwise considered incurable in other systems of medicine. Knowledge of importance of herbs is essential in order to lead a healthy, peaceful and disease-free life.

Therapeutic efficacy of major herbs are summarized in Table 5.1

Table 5.1 Therapeutic efficacy of Herbs

1. For the Brain	2. For the Heart	3. For the Respiratory Tract
Brahmi	Arjuna	Haridra
Gotu kola	Guggulu	Vasa
Vacha	Kushta	Yashtimadhu
Jyotishmati	Pushkaramula	Shirish
Sankhapusphi	Hawthrone
4. For the Stomach	5. For the liver	6. For the Urinary Tract
Amalaki	Pippali	Punarnava
Satawari	Kalamegh	Gokshura
Bhringaraja		Varuna
7. For Genital System(Men)	8. For Genital System (Female)	9. For Alimentary Tract
Ashwagandha	Satavari	Kutaja
Kapikacchu	Ashoka	Haritkari
	Jipapushpam	Bibhitaki
		Bilva
10. Accumulation breaking Herbs	11. Tonic Herbs	12. Expectorant Herbs
Bheda	Bala	Clove,
Kutaj	Aloe	Wild cherry
	Kutaj	Eucaluptus
	Guduchi	Cardamomom
	Golden seal
	Barberry
13. Disinfectant Herbs	14. Antispasmodic, Analgesic Herbs	15. Digestive Herbs
Arka	Fennel	Dry ginger
Guduchi	Dill	Long pepper
Katuka	Papper	Black pepper
	Cardamom	Cinnamon
	Asafoetida	Chitrak
		Cardamom
16. Antibiotic Herbs	17. Antacids Herbs	18. Anti Hicuup Herbs
Turmeric	Marshamallow	Long pepper
Ginger		Haritaki
Verivert
19. Increase Semen Volume	20. Anti-emetic Herbs	21. Promotes Sweting Herbs
Ashwagandha	Verivert	Basil
Gingo biloba	Cardamom	Cinnamon
Satavari	Fresh ginger	Ginger

Use of Metals in Ayurveda

Since ancient times metals are routinely used to treat various diseases. In Ayurveda apart from gold other metals that are extensively used which includes silver, arsenic, copper, iron, and zinc. All these metals contain tremendous healing energy. As far as Ayurveda is concerned, metals have been used as bhasma (ash). Bhasma literally means anything inorganic or organic burnt into its ash. The process of burning in Ayurvedic terminology is known as calcination. The process of calcination is also employed for preparation of bhasms of coral, shell, pearl. They are oxides or sulphides that are chemically nonreactive to the tissues. Important bhasma includes abhrak, mandur, naga, pravala, rajat, mukta, tambra, vanga, and gold bhasma. Ayurveda does not use heavy metals or minerals without extensive processing to render them fit for human consumption. Pure metals contain certain impurities that are toxic to the vital organs such as kidney, liver, spleen and heart. If care is not taken then our vital organs are demaged. That is why purification of metal is very essential. The procedure for the preparation of bhasma is complicated and requires skill, knowledge and experience. All metal and mineral drugs should be purified and rendered safe for the use before being used as drugs. An important bhasma is prepared from mercury, which undergoes 18 stage detoxification and purification processs. Ayurveda maintained that bhasma are quickly absorbed in the blood and increase red blood cells. Metals are treated or heated with oil, cow’s urine, ghee, butter milk, These ancient methods achieve subtler purification than mere chemical treatments and permit the human tissues to receive the metals without any toxic effects. All major pharmaceutical manufacturers including Dabur, Zandu, Divya Pharmacy, Himalaya, Charak, Baidyanath etc make swarna and other bhasma. Bhasma are catalysts which spark a healing process, hence prescribed in very small doses. Gold is effective nervine tonic. It improves memory and intelligence. Gold bhasma is used in the treatment of diseases such as anaemia, epilepsy, hysteria, heart attack, tuberculosis, leucoderma, loss of memory, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, etc. Iron is beneficial bone marrow, red blood cells, spleen and liver. Silver promotes strength and stamina. Tin ash is used in diabetes, gonorrhea, syphyilis, asthma, skin diseases, and lung diseases. The efficiency of many herbs increase thousand times when used in conjunction with mercury and sulphur.