SPICE AS MEDICINE

As a new member of AAPNA (Association of Ayurvedic Professionals of North America) I decided to tune into their monthly free conference call. Unfortunately the advertised speaker had a bad sore throat that did not resolve in time for her to host the call so instead we had a "phone panel discussion".

I was so impressed by the level of expertise of the other callers but even more impressed by their willingness to ask the difficult questions that we so often overlook. I shared my enthusiasm for the Healing Spice book by Bharat Aggarwal Ph.D. which prompted a very interesting discussion.

Dr. Aggarwal was raised in India in a tradtional household that made use of Ayurveda but his higher degrees are from american universities and he is now involved in western research. I have found the book fascinating and I had no idea so many foods and spices were being studied for there possible medicinal benefits. Dr. Aggarwal is articularly famous for his ground breakiing research on turmeric. On the call the question came up, "Do you like the idea of clients taking turmeric in capsules?" The answer was interesting.

The thought is that if a capsule burst in an empty stomach it could irritate the stomach lining. Turmeric is better delivered in food, mixed as a tea or taken in milk if dairy foods are well tolerated by the client. The Ayurvedic idea is that you cannot just jump on one spice and start taking loads of it and see results. There is more to it than that. Also, interesting to hear the doctors on the call say if the researchers think they will get the same healing results by islolating the ingredients they think are the active ones in a spice, they will not. They may record great results initially but eventually taking just part of a spice, they will eventually see side effects like those that happen with other modern drugs. It reminds me of the slogan Dr. Lad taught me years ago, "Anything can be a medicine , but if it had side effects Ayurveda would not call it a medicine."

So Ayurvedic teachings ask us to understand that nature made spices whole and that is the way they should be used. Ofcourse, prevention is better than cure so please use spice in your food. Spice not only makes food taste great so your body is primed to digest but it brings prana into food and provides phytonutrients just not available in grains, fruits and vegetable, dairy and meat products alone.

I very much hope we will see a greater emphasis on cooking in Ayurvedic studies and that student will be encouraged to discover how people the world over use spice.