Ayurvedic medicine and cancer
Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, offers diet, yoga, herbs and mineral preparations. Yoga has good evidence in its own right; the herbal and mineral remedies have not been shown to treat cancer, and a fifth of products sold online contained lead, mercury or arsenic in one study.
Overview
Ayurvedic practice is used by a large share of cancer patients in South Asia and by many in the diaspora. Its exercise and mind-body components (yoga, pranayama) overlap with practices that have randomised evidence for fatigue and mood. Its herbal and rasa shastra (metal- and mineral-containing) remedies have no randomised trials showing anticancer or survival benefit, and a survey of Ayurvedic products sold on the internet (Saper et al., JAMA 2008) found detectable lead, mercury or arsenic in about one fifth, with rasa shastra products the most likely to exceed safety limits. Case series describe lead poisoning in users. Herbs such as ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) have small trials for fatigue and anxiety but also reports of liver injury. Oncologists should ask about Ayurvedic products and check heavy-metal exposure if symptoms fit.
How it works
A constitutional system of diet, lifestyle and remedies; the mind-body elements act through the same pathways as yoga and meditation, while the pharmacology of most remedies is uncharacterised.
- Yoga component has independent evidence
- Culturally important and widely used, so worth discussing
- No trial evidence of anticancer effect
- Heavy-metal contamination of some products
- Hepatotoxicity reports
Latest papers
topQuery for this technology: (TITLE:"Ayurvedic medicine and cancer" OR ABSTRACT:"Ayurvedic medicine and cancer") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Ayurvedic medicine and cancer, not a curated reading list.
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