Abstract
The effects of integrative medicine practices such as meditation and Ayurveda on human physiology are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to identify altered metabolomic profiles following an Ayurveda-based intervention. In the experimental group, 65 healthy male and female subjects participated in a 6-day Panchakarma-based Ayurvedic intervention which included herbs, vegetarian diet, meditation, yoga, and massage. A set of 12 plasma phosphatidylcholines decreased (adjusted p < 0.01) post-intervention in the experimental (n = 65) compared to control group (n = 54) after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing; within these compounds, the phosphatidylcholine with the greatest decrease in abundance was PC ae C36:4 (delta = −0.34). Application of a 10% FDR revealed an additional 57 metabolites that were differentially abundant between groups. Pathway analysis suggests that the intervention results in changes in metabolites across many pathways such as phospholipid biosynthesis, choline metabolism, and lipoprotein metabolism. The observed plasma metabolomic alterations may reflect a Panchakarma-induced modulation of metabotypes. Panchakarma promoted statistically significant changes in plasma levels of phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins and others in just 6 days. Forthcoming studies that integrate metabolomics with genomic, microbiome and physiological parameters may facilitate a broader systems-level understanding and mechanistic insights into these integrative practices that are employed to promote health and well-being.
Highlights
Integrative medicine practices, such as meditation and Ayurveda, are popular but their effects on human physiology are not yet fully understood
A total of 261 subjects were screened for participation in the Self-Directed Biological Transformation Initiative (SBTI) study
The present study employed a targeted metabolomics approach to examine the effect of a controlled 6-day Panchakarma-based Ayurvedic retreat intervention on plasma metabolites in healthy human subjects
Summary
Integrative medicine practices, such as meditation and Ayurveda, are popular but their effects on human physiology are not yet fully understood. While numerous studies have examined the health and well-being benefits of practices such as meditation, yoga, Ayurvedic herbs and diet, few studies have examined the effects of traditional medical protocols that employ several of these modalities concurrently in one program. Given interest in integrative therapies with the general public and medical community is steadily increasing, there is a burgeoning need for additional studies that investigate Ayurvedic medicine with modern scientific techniques to further elucidate the relevant biological effects and mechanisms related to these practices. Previous studies on the potential health benefits of meditation, yoga, Ayurvedic herbs and diet have examined a wide variety of impacts; the majority of these studies have suffered from underpowered cohorts as well as a small number of measured outcomes and analytes limiting the generalizability of findings. Panchakarma, which included vegetarian diet and Ayurvedic herbs with potential hypolipidemic action, promoted statistically significant changes in observed plasma levels of phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins and others in only 6 days
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