Abstract
Background Herbo-mineral therapies are very popular in traditional medical systems and formulations consisting of specific minerals or metals or mixture of both and mixed with organic components derived from plants. Purification/detoxification or incineration procedures play an important role to detoxify these and metals and minerals. Objective In the present review, an attempt was made to gather herbo-mineral formulations which are used commonly in traditional medicinal systems in Sri Lanka and recapitulate the purification/detoxification or incineration techniques. Method Commonly used herbo-mineral formulations are collected from a text book of Vatikaaprakarana. However, the purification/detoxification and incineration techniques for all minerals/metals are not mentioned in Vatikaaprakarana, and these techniques were collected from journal articles published between 1st January 2000 and 1st June 2020 through searching PubMed (US National Library of Medicine, USA), Science Direct (RELX Group, Netherlands), and Semantic Scholar (Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, USA). Results Ten herbo-mineral formulations were selected, and purification/detoxification or incineration techniques were described in brief for copper sulphate, aluminum sulfate, borex powder, sulphur, sodium chloride, cinnabar, arsenicals, realgar, orpiment, ammonium chloride, magnesium silicate, zinc, and mercury. Conclusion The review has demonstrated different types of purification/detoxification or incineration techniques of minerals used in herbo-mineral preparations. In addition, there is an urgent need for comprehensive survey or evaluation to check whether purification/detoxification or incineration techniques of metals/minerals are practiced properly in the country.
Highlights
BackgroundHerbo-mineral therapies are very popular in traditional medical systems and formulations consisting of specific minerals or metals or mixture of both and mixed with organic components derived from plants
Sri Lanka has its own indigenous scheme of healing systems including Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and traditional medicine
Sri Lankan traditional medical system is based on a series of prescriptions handed from generation to generation over 3000 years [1]
Summary
Herbo-mineral therapies are very popular in traditional medical systems and formulations consisting of specific minerals or metals or mixture of both and mixed with organic components derived from plants. An attempt was made to gather herbo-mineral formulations which are used commonly in traditional medicinal systems in Sri Lanka and recapitulate the purification/detoxification or incineration techniques. Used herbo-mineral formulations are collected from a text book of Vatikaaprakarana. The purification/detoxification and incineration techniques for all minerals/metals are not mentioned in Vatikaaprakarana, and these techniques were collected from journal articles published between 1st January 2000 and 1st June 2020 through searching PubMed (US National Library of Medicine, USA), Science Direct (RELX Group, Netherlands), and Semantic Scholar (Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, USA). There is an urgent need for comprehensive survey or evaluation to check whether purification/detoxification or incineration techniques of metals/minerals are practiced properly in the country
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