Traditional Siddha Drugs Show Promise in Combating Anemia

The use of Siddha drug treatment can help reduce anemia among adolescent girls as per a study that highlights the potential of traditional medicine in improving adolescent health (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
A combination Siddha drug reduces anemia among adolescent girls in Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India

Go to source). The study showed that the Siddha drug combination “Annapeticenturam, Bavana katukkay, Matulai manappaku and Nellikkay lekiyam (ABMN) can improve the level of hemoglobin as well as Packed cell volume (PCV), Mean Corpuscular volume (MCV) and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) in the anemic adolescent girls”.

The ABMN medication “significantly lowered the clinical features of anemia like fatigue, hair loss, headache, loss of interest and menstrual irregularities and significantly improved the level of hemoglobin and PCV, MCV, and MCH in all anemic girls,” showed the study published in the reputed Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (IJTK).

New Hope for Reducing Anaemia

“Siddha medicine plays a notable role in Public Health Initiatives of the Ministry of Ayush. The awareness created among adolescent girls, dietary advice and preventive care provided to them, and the treatment through Siddha drugs provided therapeutic benefits to the anemic patients,” said Dr. R. Meenakumari, Director of, the National Institute of Siddha, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush.

The study included 2,648 girls, of which 2,300 completed the standard 45-day program. Reportedly, before the start of the program, researchers dewormed the participants with Cuntaivarral curanam, and then a 45-day treatment of ABMN was given to all participants under observation.

The team checked for the presence of clinical features like breathlessness, fatigue, giddiness, headache, anorexia, and pallor before and after completion of the program, along with hemoglobin evaluation and biochemical estimations.

Following the WHO guidelines, the cut-off point for anemia was set as 11.9 mg/dl, hemoglobin level below 8.0 mg/dl considered as severe, between 8.0 to 10.9 mg/dl as moderate and mild between 11.0 to 11.9 mg/dl.

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Further, the team conducted a laboratory investigation for hemoglobin, PCV, MCV, MCH, red blood corpuscles (RBC), platelets, total White blood corpuscles (WBC), neutrophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils in a randomly selected subset of 283 girls.

“Siddha drugs for anemia can contribute to public health by providing cost-effective and accessible treatment in various settings,” Meenakumari said.

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Reference:

1. A combination Siddha drug reduces anemia among adolescent girls in Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India - (https://or.niscpr.res.in/index.php/IJTK/article/view/11826)

Source-IANS