Scientific Basis for Ayurvedic Therapies

This is an introductory text for all healthcare professionals who want to deepen their understanding of Ayurvedic medicine. The book is written by over three dozen, mostly Indian, experts and takes the reader from the general principles of Ayurveda to the specifics of this approach to health care. It tries to bridge the overt gaps between experience and evidence as well as between thousands of years of tradition and modern science. More than 500 of the 600 pages of the text are dedicated to the treatment of specific diseases or symptoms. These chapters are usually well structured and include up to 200 references each. The authors do their best to review the ‘hard evidence’. Unfortunately the reader can never be entirely sure whether the totality of the data is being presented or whether the authors have selected the evidence so that it fits into their underlying conviction: Ayurvedic medicine does more good than harm.

All in all I found this book informative and well worth having. I recommend it to all who look for an authoritative, albeit perhaps slightly biased, account of Ayurvedic medicine.