Therapeutic plants of Ayurveda: A review of selected clinical and other studies for 166 species

This paper reports on the results of a literature survey involving 166 diff erent species of plants used in the Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia, based on a sam pling of the literature available to us. We found a wide range of clinical and other in vivo studies for many of the plant-based therapies utilized in the Ayurvedic system. Of the 166 plants investigated, 72 (43%) had at leas t one or more human studies and 103 (62%) had one or more animal studies. T hese results appear to contradict the generally held notion that herbal rem edies used in non-Western systems of botanical medicine have not been evalu ated in human or in vivo trials. Some of these studies are not always as la rge or methodologically rigorous as clinical studies reported in major medi cal journals. Indeed, a critical assessment of the research according to th e standards of evidence-based medicine would eliminate many of these studie s for lack of rigor according to criteria of randomization, sample size, ad equacy of controls, etc. However, the studies do suggest which species migh t be appropriate for larger and better-controlled trials in the future. Acc ordingly, a synopsis of the plants, their therapeutic applications, and the ir clinical or experimental evaluations is presented.