The Hindu Business Line : CSIR study finds links between ayurveda, modern medicine

Kochi, Oct. 2 A study by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has established links between Ayurveda and Modern Science for “Predictive and Personalised Medicine”. The study “finds links between Prakriti, a fundamental principle of Ayurveda, and modern genomics,” says a report from the Central Department of Science and Technology.

The study, it says, reveals that it is possible to identify groups within normal individuals of the population who could be predisposed to certain kinds of diseases and also might respond differently to drugs. For the first time it has been demonstrated that normal individuals within the same ethnic population, clustered on the basis of clinical criteria described in Ayurveda, show variations in the basal levels of blood parameters as well as in basal levels of expression of genes.

The CSIR-led Indian Genome Variation Consortium project provided the first genetic landscape of India. In this project, 55 distinct populations of India, classified on the basis of linguistic lineage and ethnicity from different geographical zones of the country, were found to cluster into five major groups of relatedness.

However, despite genetic similarity, there was high inter-individual variability within each cluster. This variability confers differential susceptibility to common diseases such as diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease and differential drug responsiveness. Therefore, the logical step was to identify groups within these related populations that are likely to be similarly predisposed or protected from the disease.

Role of Prakriti

According to Ayurveda, an individual’s basic constitution, Prakriti, to a large extent, determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as suitability of preventive and curative regimen for the same.

For this purpose, more than 1,000 individuals were screened, of whom 120 individuals of predominant prakriti were identified, and subsequently 96 unrelated ethnically matched healthy individuals belonging to an age group of 18-40 years with equal numbers of both genders (were recruited for further analysis. Blood sampling was carried out from these individuals on ethical guidelines. The whole genome expression profiling as well as biochemical testing for 33 parameters used in routine testing was carried out to study whether these groups exhibited any differences.

These subjects were all from North India and of Indo-European origin. The genetic background of the subjects was reconfirmed through analysis of genetic similarity with this group and populations of the Indian genome variation project.

The subjects shared genetic affinity with the Indo-European populations of North India. In this study, normal individuals of the three most contrasting Prakriti types, namely, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, were identified following clinical criteria described in Ayurveda.

The results of the study were conceptualised by Prof Samir Brahmachari, Director-General, CSIR and led by Dr Mitali Mukerji at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology.

Dr Bhavana Prasher, Ayurveda expert, and Dr Sapna Negi, molecular biologist, besides a team of trans-disciplinary people that included Ayurveda doctors, molecular biologists, biochemists, bioinformaticians and statisticians, was involved, the report added.

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