http://www.newscientist.com/article...s.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news7_head_dn14608
Do Ayurvedic medicines cure or cause harm? That's the question raised by a study showing that 21% of 193 traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicines bought on the internet from US or Indian sources contained high amounts of lead, mercury or arsenic.
One sample of a preparation called Ekangvir Ras had 26,000 parts per million of lead. This compares with a US legal limit of 2 ppm in pharmaceutically produced calcium tablets for the elderly.
In a subset of preparations called Rasa Shastra medicines, minerals with heavy metals are deliberately added. "Ayurvedic practitioners think that if these are mixed properly, they are non-toxic, but that conflicts head-on with conventional scientific thinking," says Robert Saper of Boston University School of Medicine.
Saper wants regulators to limit the heavy metals in all food supplements.
Journal reference: Journal of the American Medical Association, (vol 300, p 915)
Do Ayurvedic medicines cure or cause harm? That's the question raised by a study showing that 21% of 193 traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicines bought on the internet from US or Indian sources contained high amounts of lead, mercury or arsenic.
One sample of a preparation called Ekangvir Ras had 26,000 parts per million of lead. This compares with a US legal limit of 2 ppm in pharmaceutically produced calcium tablets for the elderly.
In a subset of preparations called Rasa Shastra medicines, minerals with heavy metals are deliberately added. "Ayurvedic practitioners think that if these are mixed properly, they are non-toxic, but that conflicts head-on with conventional scientific thinking," says Robert Saper of Boston University School of Medicine.
Saper wants regulators to limit the heavy metals in all food supplements.
Journal reference: Journal of the American Medical Association, (vol 300, p 915)
