Short term escalating administration of large amount of sneha does not increase blood lipids

Abstract

Vardhamana snehapana or shodhana sneha is classical Ayurvedic treatment in which escalating dose of sneha or ghee is administered for utkleshana (precipitation and dilution) of morbid doshas in body. Due to snehana and swedana, doshas get separated from dhatus, channelized towards koshtha, from where they can be easily and safely removed by appropriate cleansing therapy or shodhana like vamana (emesis) or virechana (purgation). Since this type of snehana requires administration of large amount of sneha or ghee there is fear that patients may experience increase in harmful lipids. The present study examined the effect of vardhamana snehapana on relevant physical and physiological parameters in normal individuals before and after samyak snehana and shodhana. Vardhamana snehapana was administered in healthy individuals according to agni and koshtha to achieve samyak snigdha lakshanas (symptoms of proper oleation).We assessed parameters of vardhamana snehapana in all individuals including samyak snigdha lakshanas, jeeryamana lakshanas, total quantity of sneha consumed. Effect of vardhamana snehapana on weight, abdominal circumference and lipid profile were measured before and after vardhamana snehapana. Statistical significance of results were quantitated by paired t test. After vardhamana snehapana, 16 out of 29 volunteers showed a significant weight loss of > 2 kg (p < 0.0001). The remaining 13 volunteers showed less but significant weight loss <2 kg (p < 0.0001). Notably, all 29 volunteers showed a significant reduction in abdominal circumference (p ≤ 0.0006) after vardhamana snehapana. Although vardhamana snehapana did not significantly alter levels of total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL, it did cause a significant reduction in triglycerides (p = 0.009) and VLDL (p = 0.005) in all 29 volunteers. Vardhamana snehapana is responsible for precipitation of doshas and does not cause brumhana (Nourishment of dhatus or body elements). Importantly, this treatment did not negatively affect health of any of the volunteers. Notably, Vardhamana snehapana caused different degrees of statistically significant reduction in body weight, abdominal circumference, and levels of specific lipids (triglycerides and VLDL) in these 29 volunteers. These encouraging results could be due to the composition and metabolism of the pure cow's ghee used for vardhamana snehapana treatment in this study.