Swarna Praashana – A Prescription to Disaster

Swarna praashana - Keep your baby away from it

A few days before, I observed a notice inserted along with the morning newspaper, about a nearby Ayurveda clinic offering Swarna Praashana, an age old remedy which has the potential to develop medha (intellect), agni (digestive power), bala (strength), aayu vardhana (long life) and so on. Briefly, it is effective for everything short of waking up the dead. It was touted as Ayurvedic vaccination and is offered to a wide range of clientele – from newborn babies to adolescents till the age of 16. Referred to in Kashyapa Samhita, the concoction is said to contain swarna (gold), vacha, shankh pushpi, brahmi, ashwagandha, madhu (honey) and cow’s ghee etc. And one more curious point was observed. There should be a minimum of thirty monthly doses to be given on pushya nakshatra. On no other day the medicine will be effective because according to the Theory of Radiation, ‘the medicinal potency is more in gold formulations on the day of pushya nakshatra – a snake-oil formulation hitchhiking on astrological quackery, what else?

But, before dismissing the concept of swarna praashana as another Ayurvedic gimmick at self-aggrandizement, I wanted to check the veracity of the arguments. The most frequently raised concern cited by Ayurvedics is that its potions have no side effects, as if each and every drug offered by modern medicine is riddled with life-threatening side effects! However, in the case of swarna praashana, I became suspicious as it involved eating gold which is a heavy metal. Besides, some websites on Ayurveda claimed that ‘gold has ability to interfere with genetics’! Yes, interfere with genetics! What an ignoramus this person must be, to ask others with impunity to consume a substance that can interfere with genetics? But on researching further, it was found that gold is mostly inert and one of the least reactive chemical elements that won’t provide any calories. Gold was administered as medicine from ancient times by shamanic practitioners. Only salts and radio isotopes of gold are of pharmacological value, as metallic gold is inert to all chemicals it encounters inside the body. Also, some people are allergic to gold. Otherwise, the precious metal you consume through the mouth simply goes out at the other end of the digestive tract. So much for its ability to interfere with genetics! But there is a serious side effect overlooked by Ayurvedics. Most of the gold we come across is not pure, or 100 per cent or 24 carats. Usually it contains additional elements like silver, copper or cadmium. Though pure gold and silver is harmless, that is not the case with copper or cadmium, which are highly toxic. Adults should consume no more than 10 mg of copper per day and copper toxicity is the reason for Indian childhood cirrhosis of the lever. I hope the quacks do take this fact into account.

What surprised me most was that honey is not so innocuous as it seemed at first! Do you know that honey is not at all recommended for infants below 12 months of age due to the risk of botulism poisoning? Botulism is a rare but sometimes fatal paralytic illness caused by food contaminated with botulinum toxin. In infants, it takes up to 12 months after birth for protective intestinal bacteria to develop, which will fight the botulinum infection. However, the Ayurvedic practitioners don’t seem to be concerned at all with administering swarna praashana of which honey is a prominent ingredient to newborn babies.

We should not feel ill against or assign malicious intent on Ayurvedics. Their knowledge is very limited and every field of study goes forward with the collected wisdom over the ages. Modern medicine, or for that matter, any branch of science is continuously updated, even on a daily or hourly basis, with new facts and data which helps to keep them always one step ahead of new diseases which also have spread in its range and lethality. But Ayurveda maintains its false pride on samhitas and sutras compiled thousands of years ago and jealously kept unchanged like sacred texts. In this aspect, it bears the hallmarks of religion than a branch of science. Absence of clinical trials of any kind and the freedom which the term ‘herbal’ confers on it, has resulted in extravagant claims by charlatans wanting to make a quick buck. Ayurveda claims to cure modern diseases (again, without side effects – the magical word!). But take a backward look at history. India was long afflicted with four deadly diseases – malaria, leprosy, small pox and polio – against which Ayurveda miserably failed. All four of them were eradicated when modern medicine came along. Even a hundred years back, Ayurvedic practitioners were ascribing divine displeasure to the emergence of small pox in a person. The concept of microbes and pathogens simply do not exist there!

So, this is a humble request to Ayurvedics. If you can’t do good to a sick person, at least don’t harm him. Delaying or denying proper medicine is also hurting your patient. Your concoctions also have side effects, as any chemical does. Any object we consume is toxic to a certain extent, the dosage being the clincher. And finally, remember what St. Matthew said, “You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye, and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye” (Matt 7:5).

Brisk Walking Exercises – Are They Useful?

Brisk walking - beneficial or just a fad?

First of all, No, No, No…..This is not to imply that walking as an exercise is not useful. It definitely is, and perhaps is the only option for keeping fit in an urban and office-going setup. Now, look at the title again. What I am asking is whether brisk walking, which is advised by medical practitioners and exercise gurus, is useful. Or, to put it differently, what are the advantages conferred by brisk walking over the relaxed one? I fail to understand how walking in a faster pace would burn more fat in an appreciable way. May be I am wrong, then I would be extremely grateful is somebody could clarify the position.

Basically, the trouble arises when I remember some of the fundamentals of school physics, like work, energy and power. If you want to move a body having some weight over a distance, you have to perform work. Energy is the capacity to do work and numerically the same and have same units (joule or calorie). Power is the rate of doing work. If you want to move the same object in half the time it took in the first case, you have to double the applied power.

Now, come back to the walking exercise. Suppose your body weight is 80 kg (at least I don’t need to suppose it as it is painfully evident!) and you want to walk a distance of 1 km. The work and hence energy needed to transport a body of 80 kg over a distance of 1 km is the same whether you do it in ten minutes or one hour (by definition, work = force x distance. Time is not factored in). Fat burning is expressed in calories which is a measure of energy consumed. So, if fat is burned in direct proportion to energy, what difference it would make if you walked slowly?

On the other hand, we must be aware that doing the same work in less time need more power. Using more power in the same volume would mean additional heat losses in the muscles. If you run a machine at full throttle, it would warm up to a higher degree than the idling state. Brisk walking needs more power and more heat loss. Heat is a form of energy, but I think the fraction that is lost as heat is very small as compared to the energy expended in the act of walking itself. Otherwise, sweating would not be enough to cool you and you might be in need of a radiator!

So, why the pundits ask people to walk fast when it does not provide for more fat burning than slow walking, which is much more enjoyable?

Or, am I wrong?

Nitaqat – A Positive Sign Too

Nitaqat is an Arabic term which is widely heard in Kerala at the moment. The localization drive on which Saudi Arabia has set forth has sent shock waves across the state. In a bid to ensure the presence of at least 28% Saudis in every institution having more than 10 employees, the Nitaqat program is likely to gain more momentum in the coming months. Even though nobody seems to have a actual figure for the number of Indians working in the Kingdom, estimates vary between 1.5 to 2.5 million, comprising of 7% of the kingdom’s population. An issue affecting this much people is a cause for concern for Kerala as its economy is grounded on the remittances of these expatriates. It is due to this easy money that our state manages a semblance of affluence though the onset of monsoon is usually enough to jolt us awake to the water borne diseases and to the reality that it is indeed a third world country.

Saudi Arabia is forced to take measures or at least look taking some measures in providing for its own citizens. The slew of jasmine revolutions that blew across the Middle East had largely spared kingdoms, bringing down only citizen-turned-dictators. But that is no consolation for the kings, since they know what flimsy support they enjoy from the populace over which they rule. That's why the need for job reservations for the local people.

On further thinking, Nitaqat is not without some beneficial effects too. The slap on the face it gives to the concept of pan-Islamic brotherhood is immense. Even though most of the Muslims in Kerala are as patriotic as you and me, there is a sizable minority which harbours aspirations of a trans-national Islamic state to which they should belong to. Besides, one would naturally love the country in which one works for his livelihood. These two factors, combine to create a sense of belonging to Saudi Arabia which also houses the holiest

shrines of Islam. The line which separates this affiliation from fundamentalism is so fine that it is the root cause of all extremist violence in Kerala. With Nitaqat, they are awake to the painful reality that Saudi Arabia is just another nation state which transcends religious values and that country cherishes its own citizens much more than they do foreigners, even if they are of the same religion. In that sense, it should be welcomed. It is heard that Kuwait is set to follow Saudi's steps in this direction.