Season 1, CHATROOM 5
Ayurveda & Science
Can the great divide between traditional and allopathic medicines ever be bridged? We talk with Annamma Spudich, a cell and molecular biologist who has also studied Indian medical systems for years. This blend informs her unique perspectives, from the efficacy of black pepper at the molecular level to a folk practitioner whose prescription includes a medicinal plant collected by a naked man.
Time Markers (mins: sec)
- 0:24 Benefits of daily spices decoction
1:28 Annamma’s unique background
2:37 Childhood surrounded by traditional practices
3:22 “Pepper water” for a minor cold
4:26 Black pepper at the molecular level
5:15 Oil bath for aches and pains
6:19 50 medicines derived from plants
6:44 Outcome-based studies of natural remedies
7:05 Traditional remedies for chronic conditions
7:56 Factions of medical systems
9:28 Outcome is wellness
10:15 Molecular methods of measuring wellness
11:07 Plant extract has many compounds
12:02 Traditional medicine very different from classical methods
13:24 Visiting Kerala ashtavaidya
15:14 Visiting folk medical practitioner
16:08 The plant to be collected by a naked man
Guests
Reading List
Spudich, Annamma & Menon, Indudharan. (2014). On the integration of Ayurveda and biomedicine: Perspectives generated from interviews with Ashtavaidya Ayurveda physicians of Kerala. Current science. 106. 1500-1504.
The Indian Spice Trade: In Search for Knowledge and Riches