“All the diseases starts from our Amashaya i.e stomach”, the Great Ayurvedic physician Bhagabhat has concluded the theory after considering the Nidan (Cause) for several diseases. One of the important concepts of Ayurveda is “Ama@. The first production of Ama begins at stomach hence, called Ama + Shay a= Amashaya. Agni, the power of digestion also begins at Amasaya on the Ahara (food) we consume. Now we have to correlate the knowledge of Agni to that of Ama production in Amasaya; to understand the diseased and the healthy state of the human body.
Ama:
Ama is derived from 2 words:-
Aa means near, near to, towards
Ma means poison
Hence the word Ama denotes a substance or a group of substances which is “near to poison” or “act like a poison”. Ama in Ayurveda means raw, undigested, immature, incomplete oxidized/combusted food particles. It also denotes sickness, ill health, indigestion, and dysentery.
It is quite natural that there occurs a functional catastrophe such as absence of adequate quantity or quality of requisite enzymes (Agni) or the occurrence of an aberrated form of enzymatic transactin at any point of the process of digestion. This leads to improperly metabolized intermediate byproducts, which are useless to the body and at the same time cannot be easily thrown out. Therefore this abberrated metabolites act as agents injurious to the tissues and membranes in the body. This unwanted metabolic pool is categorized by Ayurveda as “Ama”.
Now let us see; how our modern researches talk about “Ama” in their language.
What are Free Radicals?
Molecules are composed of atoms bonded together. This bonding process is accomplished by the sharing of electrons. When two atoms come together and their electrons pair up, a bond is created.
It is general principle of quantum chemistry that only to electrons can exist in one bond when a bond is broken, the electrons can stay together i.e., both go to one of the atoms and the other atom gets none; the molecular fragments are called ions; A good example of this is NacI slat which splits up into a chloride anion (CI-)negatively charged and a sodium cation (Na+) positively charged. But; if the electrons split up, the atoms become free radicals.
Free radicals are therefore; unpaired unstable molecules, lacking the appropriate electrons necessary to be stable. So, to gain stability they are always on the lookout to swipe electrons from other molecules such as DNA, protein and fat. They indiscriminately kill cells, destroy enzymes and produce toxic chemicals that cause damage to cellular functions. They are highly reactive molecules and their activities damage the physiological structures of DNA, lipids and proteins.
One free radical can initiate tens of thousands of chain reactions that cause tremendous harm by destroying cell membranes, disrupt crucial processes in the body, reprogram DNA, form mutant cells, and more.
Free radicals are a major contributing factor to nearly all situations of non-ideal health.
To illustrate this point; In a healthy digestive system Lipids are acted upon by Co lipase + Coenzyme A + bile salts + Lecithin and other enzymes; undergoing various oxidative process by FAD/NAD to form 3 molecules of glycerol and Acetyl-CoA. Now, in a faculty digestive conditions the lipid molecules get oxidized by super oxides and/Peroxides resulting in the formations of reactive unstable molecules of lipid, these are now called the free radicals, which go about destroying the vital membranes in various organ tissues. And such a continuous destructive action by free radicals from lipid molecules over a period of time eventually manifest as diseases of Cardiovascular, Kedney, Liver, Pancreas or something else.
This is exactly what Our Fore Fathers in Ayurveda have outlined the Concept of Ama formation in Amasaya which when unchecked leads to all types of ill-healthy conditions.
Now let us see; what produces the Free Radicals in our body?
Diet:
- Cooked Food; especially animal products chickens and other birds, cows, pigs, fishes, lambs, eggs, diary products, animal fats and proteins, and metabolic waste products contained in animal tissues and organs.
- Refined foods such as white sugar, white flours, hydrogenated oils, etc.
- Preservatives, Coloring, and other food additives.
- Alcohol and Aerated drinks.
Environmental:
- Pollution from air, water, household chemicals, asbestos, pesticide residues.
- Man-made pollutants including polyester, Acetate, Satin, Plastics, etc.
- Radiation including electromagnetic radiation from anything electric such as outside power lines; wires in your home/work, TVs, computer monitors, etc
- Breathing smokes and polluted air.
Medical:
1.Bacteria and Parasites
2.Chemotherapy & Radiation
3.Prescription & Over the Counter Drugs.
Life Style:
1.Lack of exercise or Overdoing exercise.
2.Smoking cigarettes
If I am correct, we can have absolute control over our diet and life style habits. But changing our environment and medical intervention it needs our collective conscious efforts from the people and the Government to change, if not for us but for our future generation.
[PRATISRUTI PLUS/August 1-15(2017)]
