New Delhi, Feb 17 Experts from India and abroad have acknowledged the efficacy of herbal drugs in treating non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular ailments, diabetes and stroke at a three-day global conference which concluded here on Monday.
The seventh International Congress of the Society for Ethnopharmacology was organised here by the Jamia Hamdard University where experts and representatives from the industry deliberated on the strengths of the traditional medicine system and the challenges it faces.
The event supported by the Ministry of AYUSH and the Department of Biotechnology among others saw participation of over 60 experts from around 40 countries such as Canada, Nigeria, the USA and Australia.
Dr Ikshit Sharma from AIMIL Pharma spoke in details about the potential of herbal drug BGR-34 in managing diabetes by not only providing consistent blood sugar lowering effects but also acting as metabolic regulator.
Sitesh C Bachar, Professor and Chairman, Pharmacy Department in the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, stated that many modern medicines have been demonstrated to be strong radical scavengers but they are also carcinogenic and cause liver damage.
His study highlighted the evaluation of natural compounds found in plants as effective drugs against hepatic complications.
Dr Peter O Ajagbouna, an expert from Nigeria, spoke about the pharmacological effects of a plant –Mausanga Cecropiodes — against cardiovascular diseases which he has experimented on animal models of hypertension myocardial infraction and diabetes.
“Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in the world today. Although modern drugs are effective, they have their adverse effects. In our country, therefore many researchers have focussed screening natural sources that have been intended with minimal side effects while being used in the treatment of these diseases,” he said.
Director of Trigonella Labs in Australia Dr Dilip Ghosh dwelled on medicinal properties of fenugreek seeds which has the generally recognised as safe (GRAS) status in the USA and is as an effective and safe neutraceutical ingredient for blood sugar management.
Similarly, Dr Pradeep Visen who is from Toronto, Canada, shared results of clinical validation of medicinal herbs in the management of Type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), heart diseases, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases, once linked only to affluent societies, are now global, and the poor suffer the most. PLB NSD