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

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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.

 

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