Is the King’s interest in ayurveda healthy?

Treatments there include Panchakarma (eating ghee throughout the day to completely cleanse the intestines), Shirodhara (pouring the milk of the sacred Vechur cow on the forehead), Jal Neti (pours salt water through one nostril, exhale through the other nostril). Not to mention other procedures using mud or magnets.

Sukya’s price list alone may require treatment for palpitations (it’s thought to cost £1,000 a night at no extra cost to stay there), and there are no non-smoking, alcoholic or non-vegetarian options. The everyday rule of not eating is prohibited. If you sneak a cheeky gin and tonic or a fag under your robe, you’ll be caught and fined £5,000. Sex is also prohibited (it’s unclear whether this will also result in penalties), and during downtime, no TV or texting is allowed, and lights are turned off at 9 p.m. Soukya is supposed to foster deep inner peace. Can’t stop thinking about your budget or your kids’ summer? You need permission to leave.

Ayurveda is derived from the Sanskrit words Ayur (life) and Veda (science or knowledge). Its central idea, which dates back more than 3,000 years, is that our health depends on the balance of prakriti (body constitution) and dosha (life force), and that prevention, not cure, is the responsibility.

Vata dosha governs body movements. Kapha dosha controls structure and lubrication within the body. And Pitta dosha governs digestion and metabolism in the body. If one of your doshas is considered weak, it may be recommended, for example, to increase your intake of certain fruits and vegetables.

And is that really all that good? There’s nothing wrong with putting on your silk pajamas and bamboo slippers and enjoying yoga, meditation, and fresh vegetarian food like we do at Sokhya (there’s not even a fridge in the kitchen. (It is a hot food cooked with gas made from cow dung).

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Ayurvedic medicine is experiencing a post-pandemic boom around the world. Its nutritional philosophy predates industrialization, so its emphasis on fresh, plant-based meals long presaged our fears about gut health and ultra-processed foods.

However, there was much criticism of this movement. Some people have expressed concerns about Rasashastra, the pharmaceutical branch of Ayurvedic medicine. Treatment involves applying preparations to the body, some of which have been found to contain high levels of lead, mercury, and arsenic. A 2022 report found that many Ayurvedic preparations contain levels of zinc, mercury, and arsenic that significantly exceed World Health Organization limits. Cancer Research UK warns that some Ayurvedic treatments can be toxic or interact harmfully with legal anti-cancer drugs.

Watching the news of the King’s visit to Sukya with interest from Britain is Edzard Ernst, a British-German doctor who was himself a practitioner of alternative medicine. Twenty years ago, he was consulted by the king about how to bring complementary and alternative medicine (collectively known as CAM, of which Ayurvedic medicine is considered one of them) more mainstream. He was now a great skeptic and was disappointed to learn of the royal visit to Sukya.

“I think it’s natural for the king to take time off because he has cancer. But when you hear about the treatments that are being offered there, you have to laugh because it’s almost nonsense,” he says. He also added: ”

Dr. Vijay Murthy is a Harley Street doctor who incorporates Ayurvedic medicine into his practice. He believes this is a valuable complement to so-called allopathic medicine (i.e., traditional science-based treatments).

“I think the gap that can be filled within the current clinical model is where symptoms are seen and where we treat those symptoms, but we also understand why the body is actually showing symptoms and what causes them. “We don’t really understand what causes it,” Marcy says. “And Ayurveda provides a framework for understanding why this process occurred in this person in the first place and fine-tuning aspects of the body that are contributing to the disorder.”

While Murthy is a supporter of Ayurveda, Ernst has journeyed from believer to skeptic. Born in Germany, Ernst trained as a doctor, but also studied homeopathy and acupuncture. He started his career at a homeopathic hospital in Munich, but moved to London in the early 90s and began working in research at St. George’s Hospital. It changed his life.

“I became a scientist,” he says. “I have done my best to put aside all biases, including my own. I have evaluated the effectiveness of many complementary and alternative medicines through clinical trials and meta-analyses, and have drawn rigorous .”

Ernst was appointed the world’s first Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter. He said he was supposed to train practitioners in the field, but instead continued work with a team of 20 researchers to expose CAM practices to scientific scrutiny.

This led him to Charles. In 1993, as he then did, the Prince of Wales founded the Prince’s Foundation for Integrative Health, an organization that promotes the practice of CAM to mainstream acceptance. He and Ernst met twice, first at St. James’s Palace and then at Highgrove. It wasn’t a consensus. “He said, ‘Oh, that’s you,’ and I said, ‘Sure, that’s me,'” he says with a laugh.

Nevertheless, by 2005 the Prince had published the Smallwood Report (economist Christopher Smallwood) in the hope of demonstrating the economic benefits that could accrue if CAM practices were integrated into the NHS. (named after) was commissioned. Ernst was asked to help, but after seeing an early draft, he denounced it as “completely misleading nonsense” and resigned. When parts of the report appeared in this newspaper before publication, Charles’s private secretary Sir Michael Peat accused Ernst of breaching confidentiality. He finds himself being investigated by the university.

“They behaved badly,” he says. “Innocent until proven guilty? No. Instead of defending me, my university launched a 13-month investigation that destroyed my department but ultimately cleared me. Ta.”

At the time, the Prince Foundation for Integrative Health defended the Smallwood report. Spokeswoman Natasha Finlayson said: “We completely reject accusations that our online publication Complementary Medicine: A Guide contains misleading or inaccurate claims about the benefits of complementary therapies. On the contrary, we treat people like adults and We take a responsible approach by encouraging people to look to trusted sources of information so they can make informed decisions. The Foundation does not promote complementary therapies.

When the Prince Foundation for Integrative Medicine was shut down in 2010 after its financial director was jailed on fraud charges, Ernst became one of the world’s leading CAM skeptics. He also wrote a book, Charles: Another Kingdetails what he sees as His Majesty’s misguided medical benefits.

“I’ve been studying this whole field scientifically for 30 years,” he says, and argues that, in his view, certain CAM treatments are more “dangerous” than others.

Sukhya Center in Bangalore

Last year, in Germany, he Alternative medicine: It was Hilft, it was Shadet. (Alternative medicine: what works and what doesn’t.). I saw an Ayurvedic practice called “oil pulling” included in the “What Works” section. Put some soybean oil in your mouth and suck a little between your teeth.

“There is good evidence that this can prevent gingivitis.” [inflammation of the gums]however, in Ayurvedic medicine it is claimed to purify the whole body. I will say now that I had a really hard time finding Ayurvedic practices to include in this book. ”

According to proponents of Ayurvedic medicine, its benefits include lowering cortisol (and therefore stress), supporting a healthy immune system, improving cognitive function, and improving sleep quality. Fans include Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, and more.

Some studies suggest that Ayurvedic preparations may reduce pain and increase function in patients with osteoarthritis and help manage symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes, but according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Studies, Most of these trials were small or poorly designed, he said. Health, United States government agency. There is little scientific evidence about the value of Ayurveda for other health problems, it added.

What about the Panchakarma detox offered at Sukhya? Spending the day eating ghee obviously helps cleanse the intestines. It sounds terrible, but then again, gut health is all the rage right now. Shouldn’t we at least acknowledge that it has been part of Ayurvedic practice for 3,000 years?

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“Just to be clear, the intestines have been a specialty in Western medicine for thousands of years,” Ernst roars.

But he may be fighting a losing battle. Interest in Ayurvedic medicine is increasing in the West. There is such a high demand for wellness vacations featuring the practices that the Indian government last year issued an Ayush (AY) visa that covers the six traditional medicines practiced in India: Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, an acronym for homeopathy). ). And according to this year’s report from Market Research Future, the global Ayurveda market will be worth around £7bn in 2023, but is expected to grow to more than £20bn by 2032. There is.

“I’m not surprised by this,” Ernst said. “I grew up in a time when the Beatles were on the charts and encouraging interest in Indian culture. [the Beatles travelled to India to meet the Maharishi Yogi in 1968; the Maharishi opened the first European ayurvedic centre in Switzerland in 1985]. Why not? It’s a fascinating country. But the Indian government is now jumping on the bandwagon like crazy. ”

In addition to the King and Queen, actress Emma Thompson and the Dalai Lama have also enjoyed a stay at Soukya. Its medical director, Dr. Isaac Matai, has been appointed as the King’s personal ‘holistic doctor’ and has traveled to the UK to treat the King, and also to Dumfries House in Scotland (where the King was appointed for educational purposes). He is also planning to open a Soukiya branch in the stately mansion he manages. Kings Foundation).

Ernst views everything with skepticism. He claims that in 30 years of research, only 5 percent of complementary medicines have been scientifically proven to be effective. But if you think about it wisely, Murthy argues that Ayurvedic practices have many benefits. Remember the doshas, ​​the life forces that need to be balanced? They may be the path to personalized medicine.

“For the modern world, Ayurveda is ancillary; it is complementary,” he says. “We can personalize a person’s approach to health care because Western medicine cannot personalize health care.”