Can Indian Traditional Medicinal Systems Show The Way Forward?

Indian traditional codified medicinal systems and folk medicine are a vast lexicon of herbal formulations and medicinal plants. In last few decades, the popularity of herbal medicine/ products has increased worldwide, not only as part of conventional treatment strategies but also for health care management, and thus the opportunity to promote Indian traditional medicine is increasing globally. Recently people from several developed and developing countries have been attracted toward traditional Indian herbal medicines. A large number of modern medicines are derived from the plants used in Ayurveda and other traditional medicinal systems. Ayurveda and other traditional herbal medicines are capable of addressing some modern unmet medical needs, and can provide the basis for developing potential medicines. Lack of drug standardization, information, quality control, and strict monitoring are the primary lacunae in the promotion of traditional Indian herbal products. In recent years several regulatory and promotional approaches have been undertaken to overcome such problems. Quality control, rigorous research to establish the effectiveness and safety, and credible clinical trials of the herbal products are required. Thus, the careful and scientific integration of Indian traditional herbal medicine into evidence-based clinical management of diseases is essential to provide better health care facilities to people.

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India, a rich chest of biodiversity, has a large diversity of plant species. India consists of 2.4% of the total geographical area of the world, but accounts for 8% of global biodiversity, with around 49,000 plant species of which 5,150 species are endemic.1–3 The Himalayan range, Western Ghats, North-Eastern Indian hills (Khasi and Mizo hills), and Vindhya and Satpura ranges of the northern peninsula of India are the gold mine of higher plant species. Herbal medicine has special importance in the society, culture, and traditional medicine of India.1 Plant-based medicines are at the root of the modern health care system, and are acknowledged for their economic importance also.4 Traditional medicinal knowledge and plants play a central role in biological research and drug development. Herbal products or constituents are not only used directly as curative agents, but also as lead molecule in the discovery of new drugs. Current research and understanding suggest that the use of crude herbs or herbal products can confer real benefits on health when used long-term.2,5 Increasing population and the incidence of side effects of synthetic medicines also accelerate the popularity of alternative medicines. The World Health Organization acknowledged that the goal of ‘Health For All’ cannot be accomplished without herbal medicines. In a wider context, demand for medicinal plants, herbal medicines, health products, pharmaceuticals, food supplements, cosmetics, etc is growing in all parts of the world, which indicates the popularity and belief of people in herbal medicines. This in turn has created great scope for India to utilize its traditional knowledge of herbal medicine and repository of medicinal plants in the service of the world population and for the economic growth of India.2,6,7

Indian systems of medicine