Ayurveda’s unlikely solution for a very common disease; treating diabetes with lead based compounds.

Verain Mahajan
Jan 10
11 min read

This blog serves to simplify the following article: Characterization and effect of Naga Bhasma on hypoglycemic, antihyperglycemic, and antidiabetic activities in Charles Foster diabetic rats, published in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine.

In 2022, the World Health Organization reported that more than 830 million people were suffering from diabetes, worldwide. That’s over 10% of the world’s population!

These statistics are quite horrifying, if you ask me. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that humanity is doomed. For many years now, thanks to extensive research there are many ways to control diabetes. In this article, we are going to be discussing one such research project that focuses on a controversial therapy for diabetes.

What is diabetes mellitus?

Diabetes mellitus is a condition where the body’s insulin secretion mechanisms are impaired. This impairment means either the insulin being produced is ineffective or that it's not being secreted.

For context, insulin is a polypeptide hormone produced in the β (beta) cells of a region of the pancreas, called the islets of Langerhans. Insulin works with glucagon (another hormone) to regulate blood sugar (glucose) levels. When our food is first digested and broken down into carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, our blood glucose levels rise. Pancreatic β cells detect this excess sugar in the bloodstream and secrete insulin into the bloodstream. Then, insulin binds to insulin receptors on the surface of cells that are usually liver tissue, adipose (fat), and muscle cells. Through a series of intracellular signaling pathways, transporters allow glucose into the cell, where it is either used in cellular respiration or stored as glycogen (polymer of glucose) in the liver or muscles. As cells absorb glucose, blood glucose levels gradually return to normal and β cells reduce insulin secretion.

In the liver, insulin also inhibits glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in the liver, which are the breakdown of glycogen and the forming of glucose, respectively. This prevents a further increase in the blood glucose levels, by preventing the immobilization of glucose into the bloodstream.

In adipose tissue, insulin facilitates the conversion of glucose into fatty acids and inhibits lipolysis (the breakdown of fat), preventing additional glucose release.

So now that you know what insulin does, let's talk about why it's important.Insulin helps in delivering glucose (the body’s primary source of energy) to our brain and bodily organs. Without enough blood sugar, our bodies experience low blood sugar—known as hypoglycemia—which can cause dizziness, weakness, slowed thinking, confusion, poor attention and memory, and other harmful effects. A deficiency in insulin can even cause death. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels are extremely dangerous to the body and open it up to so many other types of diseases.

Now that you understand a lot more about insulin, let's talk about diabetes again. There are a few main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational. We are going to mainly focus on Type 1 and 2, which have a strong link to genetics and deal with an impaired insulin mechanism in all age groups. If synthetic insulin isn’t supplied to the body and diabetes goes untreated long term complications can arise. Some of these include cardiovascular disease, diabetic neuropathy, kidney damage, eye damage, foot damage, skin conditions, fungal and bacterial infections, hearing impairment, Alzheimer's, and depression. This isn’t even a complete list! Regardless, diabetes is so harmful and affects so many! How can one even overcome it? Is there a way to repair the insulin producing mechanisms or get insulin from outside sources? There most definitely is! So many around the world are working on synthetic insulins and researching the repair of insulin production mechanisms. But unfortunately, there is not a cure yet. That is, in the Western World. There is an ancient therapy for diabetes mellitus that comes from the Indian Subcontinent. It doesn’t quite replace insulin. However, it is known to do its job to a certain extent. But most people in the medical field are reluctant to consider it an option. There are 2 reasons for this:

The therapy consists of lead based compound
It is an ayurvedic medicine

What is ayurvedic medicine?

Ayurveda is defined as the study or science of medicine.

It is an ancient Indian system of holistic medicine that has been practiced for more than 3000 years. Ayurveda is centered around natural cures that are typically based on herbal medicine and lifestyle interventions.

It differs from Western medicine in a few ways. Because Ayurveda is holistic, when a patient has a problem, the patient as a whole is evaluated and treated rather than just the ailment. Ayurveda takes a more subjective approach as compared to Western Medicine’s objective data based course. Western Medicine uses standardized and specialized approaches towards medical ailments. Western medicine also utilizes scientifically proven pharmaceutical drugs and therapies. Ayurveda on the other hand, employs natural based techniques hailing from ancient Hindu and Indus Valley civilizations. It doesn’t go with the data, instead it is subjective in its treatment: each patient has their own treatment and journey, their own natural medicines and therapies.

In Ayurveda, the goal is to treat the patient by bringing their mind, body, and soul back into balance with the world around them. The balance that ayurveda is concerned with revolves around the 3 doshas (energy types): Vatta dosha, Kapha dosha, and Pitta dosha.

Vatta is the flow of life through your body and mind. It is your blood flow and the way you breathe and move. Pitta is the type of energy that consumes all else. It is what controls hormones, digestion, and metabolism. Kapha is what holds it all together, your tendons and ligaments and your bones and cells.

In Ayurveda, Diabetes mellitus is known as an imbalance of the Vatta dosha, as it deals with the imbalance of your blood sugar levels. One may think that the disease is caused by Pitta imbalance, but because it primarily deals with blood and its sugar levels, it is related to the Vatta.

Ayurveda believes that people must implement lifestyle and nutritional changes. They must improve their habits to live a healthier life and many suggest taking Naga Bhasma, the lead based therapy. Now that we have mentioned lead! Let’s learn about why most people are so reluctant to use it in medicine.

What is Lead?

Lead is a toxic heavy metal found in the Earth’s crust. It alters the structures of proteins by mimicking nontoxic bivalent metals, causing dysfunction in the body’s metabolic processes. There are 2 types of lead toxicity/poisoning: acute lead toxicity and chronic lead toxicity, which is also known as plumbism. Lead poisoning manifests differently in humans based on their age and the concentration of lead in blood. Children:

Developmental delay
Learning difficulties
Irritability
Loss of appetite
Weight loss
Sluggishness and fatigue
Abdominal pain
Vomiting
Constipation
Hearing loss
Seizures

Newborns:

Premature birth
lower birth weight.
slow growth.

Adults:

High blood pressure
Joint and muscle pain
Difficulties with memory or concentration
Headache
Abdominal pain
Mood disorders
Reduced sperm count and abnormal sperm
Miscarriage, stillbirth or premature birth

(source: Mayo Clinic)

Western medicine and modern day science finds that any amount of lead is toxic. But Ayurveda argues that Naga Bhasma, having undergone purification in many different ways, is non-toxic.

How the reserach was conducted:

Naga Bhasma dose determination

The dose in rats was calculated through a formula derived using the Table of Paget and Barnes. This table provides the conversion rate of medication doses between different species, to prevent harmful effects. The formula uses the value of the average human adult dose of naga bhasma as found in Rasatarangini, a classical text of Ayurveda and the body surface area ratio convertible factor.

Formula:

Human adult dose × body surface area ratio convertible factor =

120 mg × 0.018 (for 200 g body weight of rat)= 2.16 mg/ 200 g body weight of rat =

2.5 mg/ 200 g body weight of rat =

12.5 mg/ kg body weight

Naga Bhasma suspension preparation

The suspension was prepared in a porcelain Kharal by combining 5 drops of 5% gum acacia solution and the naga bhasma dose. The suspension was triturated. The final liquid volume was adjusted so that 1 mL of the suspension contained the desired dose of NB.

Studies

Hypoglycemic study

6 male and 6 female Charles Foster albino rats all weighing between 150-280 g were selected
They were then equally divided into control and drug test groups through a simple randomized method
12.5 mg/Kg of NB (naga bhasma) drug was orally administered to test group and 1 mL distilled water (DW) was orally administered to control group
Blood glucose level was observed before and 1 hr post drug administration.

Anti-hyperglycemic study

6 male and 6 female Charles Foster albino rats all weighing between 150-280 g were selected
They were then equally divided into control and drug test groups through a simple randomized method
Sucrose was orally administered to each rat. A dose ratio of 40g/kg was used.
12.5 mg/Kg of NB (naga bhasma) drug was orally administered to the test group and 1 mL distilled water (DW) was orally administered to the control group
Blood glucose level was observed before and 2, 4, and 8 hr post drug administration.

Anti-diabetic study

6 male and 6 female Charles Foster albino rats all weighing between 150-280 g were selected
They were then equally divided into control and drug test groups through a simple randomized method
Streptozotocin was dissolved in the citrate buffer and immediately injected into each rat’s body cavity (dose ratio of 40 mg/kg) administered to each rat. (Streptozotocin destroys pancreatic β cells to induce diabetes)
AFTER 3 DAYS, 12.5 mg/Kg of NB (naga bhasma) drug was orally administered to the test group and 1 mL distilled water (DW) was orally administered to the control group
Blood glucose level was observed on the day of administration and 5 days after.

Three subtopics studied in the research article. This figure was created by the writer of this article.

Analyzation of Blood Glucose Levels

Each time the blood glucose levels were observed using an auto-analyzer, that carried out estimations as per Trinder’s Method. Blood was drawn through a supraorbital puncture (above eyes) and fed to the machine.Trinder’s method uses colorimetry to determine the glucose levels. The glucose in the blood is oxidized by glucose oxidase to produce hydrogen peroxide, which reacts in the presence of peroxidase to form a pink colored compound. The intensity of the color produced is directly proportional to the glucose concentration and is measured photometrically by the analyzer. The darker the shade of pink, the greater the amount of blood glucose.

Purification of Naga Bhasma

In this study, the purification of Naga Bhasma in this was carried out adhering to traditional ayurvedic standards.

The flow chart below demonstrates the purification process of Naga bhasma according to the specific ayurvedic purification method used by researchers in this study.

Purification steps. This figure was created by the writer of this article.

Post Purification Testing of NB

To ensure that the Naga Bhasma that has been prepared is not toxic, researchers ran various tests on the prepared substance.

A particle size analysis of the bhasma was conducted using a particle size analysis machine called Sympatec HELOS. Water was used as the dispersion medium, separating particles and keeping them evenly suspended for accurate results. The analysis revealed the particle size was at a 0.5/4.5–875 μm range. For Naga Bhasma, particle size analysis scientifically verifies that the metal has been completely transformed into small enough particles so absorption into the body is easier, the surface area is larger, and the smaller particles don’t carry as much toxicity as compared to larger ones. Additionally, Ayurvedic standards say the bhasma must be “Rekhapurnam” and “Varitaram”, able to enter skin lines and and able to float on water respectively. This test scientifically verifies that the particles live up to the standard.

X-ray diffraction was carried out using a specific X-ray wavelength called K-Alpha1. This technique shines X-rays through a sample. Because X-rays are about the same size as atoms, they bounce off the atoms inside. Some rays cancel out, but others line up and get stronger. By measuring the angles where this happens, scientists can find out how the atoms are arranged and what the sample is made of.

This data was compared to the standard pattern (from the ICSD database AKA Inorganic Crystal Structure Database) using the POWD-12++ software (1997). This was done to ensure that the molecular make-up of the purified Naga Bhasma matches the traditional therapy and doesn’t have any impurities that may cause harm.

An atomic emission spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasma (ASP-ICP) was carried out to provide a quantitative analysis of the elemental composition in NB. ASP-ICP is an analytical method that determines the composition of a sample by exciting atoms using inductively coupled plasma. The wavelengths and intensities of light emitted by the excited atoms are used to determine what elements (and what amount of each) make up the sample.

A 250 mg sample of NB and 5 mL of HNO3 and 5 mL HCL were mixed in a closed vessel. Then they were heated at 2000 degrees celsius for half an hour. Post cooling, the solution was “filtered and washed by deionized water”. It was made into a 100 mL solution. The test was done using the Optima 3300 RL model of Inductive Coupled Plasma Spectrometer. For reference tuning a standard of 100 ppm was used. The test was another way of confirming that NB was not toxic and had no impurities.

Lastly, the Namburi Phased Spot Test was carried out:

Phase I: This phase extends from application of spot to 5 min (0–5 min).

Phase II: This phase extends from 5 min of spot application to 20 min (5–20 min).

Phase III: This phase extends from 20 min of spot application to few hours. "In this study, the final point was set to the time from which no colour change was observed. The time was 72 h of spot application. (20 min–72 h)."

This test was used to see if the compound remained stable over time and what chemical reactions took place. Simply by observing color changes on potassium iodide paper over a certain amount of time, the NB’s purity and chemical behavior was assessed.

The results

Out of the three studies conducted, researchers only found Naga bhasma to have anti-hyperglycemic and antidiabetic properties. In the hypoglycemic study, the control group exhibited a statistically insignificant decrease in blood glucose levels (11.07% decrease) after 1 hour. The “NB treated group” also exhibited a statistically insignificant increase in blood glucose levels (5.95% increase), 1 hour post drug administration. These values were found by taking the average change in percentage in blood sugar of the rats in the control and “NB treated group”. Since these results were found to be statistically insignificant to the study, no relationship between the Naga Bhasma and hypoglycemia can be established in this study. This does not mean that there isn’t a relationship between the two, it just means that it was not found in this data. It is very important to consider how small the study’s sample size of 6 rats per group is and how large the error is due to this can be. This study should be repeated multiple times before ruling out Naga Bhasma’s relationship with hypoglycemia.

In the anti-hyperglycemic study, the control group exhibited a statistically significant increase of blood sugar post sucrose administration. The percent increases in blood sugar values for the control group after the 2nd, 4th, and 8th hour were 24.37 %, 20.7 % and 20.50 %. For the “NB treated group”, the increase at the 2nd hour was slightly higher with an increase of 24.65%, but at the 4th and 8th hour, there was only an increase of 8.36 % and 9.88 %, respectively. This data supports Naga Bhasma’s anti-hyperglycemic properties. But as mentioned previously, because the sample size is so small; there is a high chance of error, and therefore the study must be repeated multiple times in a much larger capacity.

In the anti-diabetic study, eight days after the Streptozotocin injection the control group exhibited a statistically significant increase of 48.90% in blood sugar levels. On the other hand, a statistically significant decrease of 69.58% was observed in the “NB treated group” five days after drug administration (eight days post Streptozotocin injection). This data represents a very strong relationship between Naga Bhasma’s anti-diabetic properties. However, as this is one of the few documented experiments, it must be repeated in a larger capacity like the other two above.It is important to take into account that the Naga compound was mixed with the juice of Citrus medica fruits during preparation. These fruits have “anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antihyperglycemic properties.”

Some limitations of this study are that the amount of subjects used was very small. It must be repeated with a larger sample size. There was also a very small time frame and the long term effects of NB were not studied in this case, which is important because of how toxic lead is.

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that this study is a really good first step. It is the start of many studies that explore the properties of Naga Bhasma. Hopefully, after more testing NB will move past rat/mouse clinical trials and onto humans.

Looking at the bigger picture, Naga Bhasma is just one of the many Ayurvedic therapies that is out there. Although ayurveda isn’t as widely used as Western medicine, it has existed for much longer. There is a lot of value in studying how generations before us solved their health problems without all of the technology we have now; they were doing more with less.

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