Examining Ayurveda (was My experience with caffeine)

[Guest guest]

>I beg your pardon, but I don't see Deanna wanting to create conflict

>at all. At worst, she is playing the Devil's Advocate or wanting to

>see how different things fit into each other.

>

>

José ,

As I stated earlier, I am trying to determine if Ayurveda is a bona fide

science-based system, or whether it is simply a pseudoscience like

astrology. Does it stand up to Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit? It

is fun to determine your doshic makeup, much like it is fun to learn

your zodiac sign. But is either based on any facts? If the system is

sound, it will hold up under scientific scrutiny. I am just curious

whether or not there have been any studies on the descriptions and

recommendations. I had never really looked at the validity of Ayurvedic

medicine before now.

http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/chopra.html

" Proponents state that ayurvedic medicine originated in ancient time,

but much of it was lost until reconstituted in the early 1980s by the

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Its origin is traced to four Sanskrit books

called the Vedas-the oldest and most important scriptures of India,

shaped sometime before 200 B.C.E. These books attributed most disease

and bad luck to demons, devils, and the influence of stars and planets.

Ayurveda's basic theory states that the body's functions are regulated

by three " irreducible physiological principles " called doshas, whose

Sanskrit names are vata, pitta, and kapha. Like astrologic " signs, "

these terms are used to designate body types as well as the traits that

typify them.

" Like astrologic writings, ayurvedic writings contain long lists of

supposed physical and mental characteristics of each constitutional

type. Vata, for example, is said to " govern all bodily functions

concerning movement " and to accumulate during cold, dry, windy weather.

According to Chopra's Time/Life Video guidebook: vata individuals are

" usually lightly built with excellent agility " and " love excitement and

change " ; balanced vata produces mental clarity and alertness; and

unbalanced vata can produce anxiety, weight loss, constipation, high

blood pressure, arthritis, weakness and restlessness.

" Ayurvedic proponents have claimed that the symptoms of disease are

always related to the balance of the doshas, which can be determined by

feeling the patient's wrist pulse or completing a questionnaire. Some

proponents claim (incorrectly) that the pulse can be used to detect

diabetes, cancer, musculoskeletal disease, asthma, and " imbalances at

early stages when there may be no other clinical signs and when mild

forms of intervention may suffice. " Balance is supposedly achieved

through " pacifying " diets and a long list of procedures and products,

many of which are said to be formulated for specific body types. Through

various combinations of vata, pitta, and kapha, ten body types are

possible. Somehow, however, one's doshas (and therefore one's body type)

can vary from hour to hour, season to season, and questionnaire to

questionnaire. "

Deanna