There are many sceptics of Ayurveda, as they think that it is more of a hype than an actual science of healing. Let us look at some facts and figures, till now more than five hundred research papers have been published on Pubmed, an online repository of medical literature, around the herb Ashwagandha alone. If you start counting all the other research papers around Ayurveda, the count will easily cross tens of thousands.
Even though there are loads of data summarising the various solutions that Ayurveda offers, it is not taken seriously in the medical world. So, a question arises that even when several studies back the usefulness of Ayurveda then why Ayurvedic drugs are incomparable in modern medicine. Well, the answer is not that complicated, it all lies in the scale of effort and the necessary investment that is needed to make a powerful drug. In the well-funded field of modern science, there are billions of dollars of investment and necessary manpower to create a particular drug. On the other hand, there is almost no investment in the field of Ayurvedic research. Not only that, there is almost no focus in the field of Ayurvedic research.
Many people ask as to why there are loads of bad quality of research in the field of Ayurveda. The answer lies in the fact that every scientist or researcher has a very different opinion on this subject. Further, natural-product based research offers complex problems to its researchers, which results in many of them deducing their own notions on the subject.
One other factor that hampers Ayurveda based research, is the access to the alternative herbal route. In Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) gives green signal to the manufacturing and sale of Ayurvedic medicines, as long as the process of making the medicines come from the ancient texts. Unlike the stringent vetting process that modern drugs have to undergo, DCGI does not require Ayurvedic drug manufacturers to show the clinical-trial data providing the effectiveness of the drug.
70% sources of all modern drugs are natural products. This already provides enough precedent that effective drugs can be developed from herbs. There are enough markers that show Ayurveda holds a lot of potentials and provides a solution for a wide array of problems, however, due to longstanding misconceptions, ignorance and no support from the medical community, Ayurveda can easily be said as one of the most ignored branches of healing.
People fail to understand that the Ayurveda answers solution to diseases that are termed untreatable by modern science. Many people even say that Ayurveda can provide such level of treatment that it can even be termed as fringe science by many. There is nothing like ‘Hype’ with Ayurveda, on the contrary, people ignore it thinking it is just a made up science by some people. It is a high time when the medical community should see the merits of this ancient art of healing and start investing their time and resources to develop high-quality Ayurvedic drugs.