Newindpress

Bangalore, Jun 25: Indian ayurvedic physicians claim to have developed an efficacious treatment for migraine which will be showcased at the forthcoming 13th International Headache Congress at Stockholm, Sweden, between June 28 and July 1.

However anxiety prevails over its wide acceptance of this treatment for migraine which affects 15 per cent of Indians aged between 18 and 45 years.

Safety studies need to be carried out to develop this approach on a scientific footing, besides validation by developing experimental models of subsequent larger studies.

Without these, the trials so far conducted, would remain plainly as ‘acclaimed hypothesis’.

Vaidya Balendu Prakash, chairman, Ayurveda Unani Siddha Drugs Technical Advisory Board, told the New Indian Express that the World Health Organisation had set guidelines for indigenous medical systems which were accepted by India.

These lay down that such medical systems developing new drugs should clear the eligibility of reproducibility, safety through two tiered trials on mice and rats, and efficacy.

“Till now we have not been able to develop a single ayurvedic drug qualifying all these three conditions,” he explained.

The study on migraine treatment, headed by Prakash with 17 ayurvedic physicians and released on Sunday, was conducted on 406 migraine patients from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh between May 15, 2005 and March 31, 2007.

It found that a combination of ayurvedic formulations like Narikel Lavan, Sootshekhar Rasa, Sitopaladi, Rasonadi Vati and Godanti Mishran along with regulated lifestyle and diet restored the acid-alkali balance and normal functioning of gastro-intestinal system.

This reduced the severity and frequency of migraine headaches. The patients had the habit of skipping breakfast, long gaps between eating spicy meals, irregular sleeping habits and high consumption of tea and coffee.

Prakash said that as on March 31, 2007, 52 per cent of the patients completed the prescribed treatment and were leading normal lives, while eight per cent were still receiving ayurvedic treatment, and 40 per cent remained uncontactable.

The study was conducted under the aegis of Prakash’s VCP Cancer Research Foundation. Mumbai-based Bombay College of Pharmacy and IPCA Labs Ltd are providing support in conducting toxicology tests and other requirements to qualify for the WHO norms.