Traditional Ayurvedic medicines are used by the majority of India's 1.1 billion population and are growing increasingly popular among alternative medicine followers worldwide. But in recent years there have been over 80 cases of lead poisoning associated with Ayurvedic medicine use, according to researchers at Boston University in the US.

Ayurvedic medicines are divided into two major types: herbal-only and rasa shastra, which is an ancient practice of deliberately combining herbs with metals such as mercury, lead, iron and zinc; minerals such as mica; and gems like pearl. Rasa shastra experts claim that these medicines, if properly prepared and administered, are safe and therapeutic – but the prevalence of metals in Ayurvedic medicines sold via the Internet is unregulated.

Now, researchers have conducted a study into Internet-sold Ayurvedic medicines, using the search terms Ayurveda and Ayurvedic medicine. They identified 673 products, of which 230 Ayurvedic medicines were randomly selected for purchase. Country of manufacturer/Web site supplier, rasa shastra status, and claims of Good Manufacturing Practices were recorded.

The researchers then looked at the metal concentrations of the medicines and found that every single one of the metal-containing products exceeded 1 or more standards for acceptable metal intake. In some cases, the lead and/or mercury content could lead to the consumer taking 10,000 times the acceptable limits – at best, the amounts were 100 times greater.

The researchers say more regulation is necessary to specify the maximum acceptable concentrations or daily dose limits for metals in supplements and medications.

To find out more about Ayurvedic remedies, Click Here: Understanding Ayurvedic Medicine

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