Safety Aspects of Ayurvedic Drugs

Abstract

Ayurvedic medicines are usually considered safe by consumers especially because of their traditional usage. However, in the current global regulatory scenario, safety of Ayurvedic medicines needs to be established. The concerns of heavy metals in Ayurvedic products raised by few international published papers have further questioned the safety of Ayurvedic products. But it needs to be addressed, whether mere presence of certain heavy metals in Ayurvedic products is reason enough to believe that these products are not safe. The presence of heavy metals in some Ayurvedic products, especially the products where few metals might be used as one of the ingredients, needs to be addressed separately, considering the fact that these metals are used only after being processed by Ayurvedic methods of detoxification. However, the issue of presence of metals as contaminants definitely is a safety concern. It is advisable that finished multi-ingredients Ayurvedic product should undergo the relevant toxicity studies, and then the same may be subjected to clinical research to establish their safety. There is also a need to strengthen pharmacovigilance system for Ayurvedic products to find out rare side effects. Though there is a need to develop optimum scientifically validated methods of safety evaluation of Ayurvedic products, yet the prolonged history of usage of traditional medicinal products cannot be ignored.