Herbal
industry in India
The
Ayurvedic industry in India is probably the oldest medical
care system in the world. The history of herbs in ancient
India is so old that the ancient form of herbal healing has
even been mentioned in the Vedas, an ancient religious work
of the Hindus. The Rig Veda, which is believed to date back
to 3000 BC mentions the ancient practice of Ayurvedic healing,
while the Atharva Veda classifies the field of Ayurveda into
eight divisions, each dealing with a different part and function
of the human body and its organs. In ancient times, it was
therefore the Vedic Brahmins who performed this ancient form
of healing using herbal plants.
The ancient herbal healing methods of Ayurveda and Unani deal
with the use of herbs and natural products to tackle health
conditions. Ayurveda does not have a place as a perfect form
of medicinal treatment in the developed world today but the
ancient practice is still practiced by many Indians. In fact,
due to the adverse effects of the components of many allopathic
drugs, even people in the Western world have turned to Ayurvedic
remedies for cures or at least to supplement their allopathic
treatment with. Consequently, recent years have seen a great
increase in the worldwide demand for herbal cures, herbal
skin care products and even herbal cosmetics.
In modern times, the world has grown to appreciate this ancient
form of medicine and consequently Indian herbal products manufacturers
are benefiting from a tremendous demand for their goods. The
herbal products industry India is growing rapidly and witnesses
almost a thirty percent growth rate annually. There are also
many scholars and students of medicine from other parts of
the worlds who now want to learn more about the field of Ayurveda.
However, even in olden times, scholars and medics from Greece,
Rome, Tibet, Egypt and Persia had also been intrigued enough
to make trips to India to learn about Ayurvedic medicine.
Some of the popular herbal products today are those that fit
into a travel kit. Such travel kits do not contain complicated
instructions or difficult to manage potions but rather contain
basic herbal medications for minor cuts and ailments. Some
of the basic contents of such an herbal kit would include
Aloe Vera, which has been acknowledged as a 'miracle drug'
the world over, ginger, garlic, peppermint, etc.
While herbal medicines would therefore appear to be new for
Western healers and medical practitioners, the truth is that
most prescribed medicines even today contain plant extracts.
These plant extracts are thereafter fortified by combining
them with pother ingredients. It is probably for this reason
that even the World Health Organization has finally seen fit
to endorse certain herbal medicinal care treatments. The World
Health Organization now claims that such alternative herbal
medical practices offer a relevant therapy. Although herbal
medicines are still comparatively hard to obtain in America
because of the rigid code of standardization the medicines
must comply by in that country, other countries like Germany
even have regular medical practitioners prescribing herbal
drugs.
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