Being a physician and a skeptic dealing with hundreds of Diabetic patients every week, I was intrigued by this report that appeared in the Times of India, Hyderabad edition on August 31, 2018.
Has a team of researchers found evidence for divine power of Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita , that too in a multi centre, multi country study ? This sounded very interesting.
Doctor, can I use the new Ayurvedic medicine for Diabetes ?
A patient was asking me.
Which one ?
The one lauded by our Prime minster .
Oh , you mean BGR 34 ?
Yes.
Then better not.
Anticipating such questions, I had studied the molecule using resources at my disposal.
It is a mixture of four herbs. Individually these herbs had undergone small lab and clinical studies with mixed results. In February the Indian government’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has come out with a mixture of these four herbs in a single tablet amidst great fanfare with backing of just one unpublished study on 48 patients.
Today, April 7, is the World health day and this year the World Health Organization is focussing on Diabetes. “Beat Diabetes” is the slogan and WHO aim is to increase the awareness on prevention and treatment of Diabetes throughout the world.
Sadly the first news that I heard on this day was that of the demise of a 25 years old man in Kattappana in Kerala, India due to this disease. Unfortunately it is the lack of awareness in how to go about treating his Diabetes that resulted in this unnecessary loss of life.