By Team Ayurved Sutra
Posted on
Ashwagandha An armour against diseases
Ashwagandha is used as a household remedy by Indians, who consider it as the best tonic for elderly and children, and as aphrodisiac by youngsters. It is one of the best nervine tonics of Ayurveda, the most ancient system of medical sciences. Scientific research studies showed that besides the enumerated neurological conditions, brain strokes causing paralysis and neuronal deficit also improve in the long term treatment with Ashwagandha. Ashwagandha is also used in all forms of cancer, including of prostate and lung, especially in last stages, giving the patients lot of health benefits.
Ashwagandha is one of the six essential medicinal herbs. It is a well known herb of the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine as a Rasayana (tonic). It is used for various kinds of disease processes, and especially as a nervine tonic. Considering these facts, many scientific studies were carried out and its adaptogenic/anti-stress activities were studied in detail. In experimental models it increases the stamina of rats during swimming endurance test and prevents adrenal gland changes of ascorbic acid and cortisol content produced by swimming stress. Pre-treatment with Ashwagandha showed significant protection against stress induced gastric ulcers. Ashwagandha has anti-tumor effect on Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell carcinoma. It was also found effective against urethane induced lung-adenoma in mice. In some cases of uterine fibroids, dermatosarcoma, long term treatment with WS controlled the condition. It has a cognition promoting effect too and useful in children with memory deficit and in old age people loss of memory. It has also been found useful in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzeimer’s. It has GABA mimetic effect and was shown to promote formation of dendrites. Besides, it has anxiolytic effect and improves energy levels and mitochondrial health. It is an anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic agent and found useful in clinical cases of rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
