Ayurvedic Herbs in Healthy Ageing By Sukh Dev

Ayurvedic Herbs in Healthy Ageing

About the Book
In most countries of the world, average human life expectancy has sharply climbed. However, extended longevity is seeing a surge in diseases and handicaps typical of old age: type-2 diabetes, heart affections, movement disorders, dementia (brain diseases), and other neuro- and immunodegenrative handicaps. Hence, in order to make extension of life span enjoyable and meaningful, it is important to aim at and achieve healthy ageing. This book is an effort to educate the reader about what are the basic requirement for healthy ageing, and how certain ayurvedic herbs can assist in achieving this goal.

The book has been divided into 3 Sections. First Section is devoted to what happens to the various crucial body organs as a result of natural ageing. Section 2 describes factors which are essential for healthy ageing, and those which must be abhorred.

Section 3 is devoted to the eight ayurvedic herbs, which have received significant modern scientific accreditation. Most of these products have activities against diseases / handicaps which show up after age 50 or so. Modern scientific studies have shown that chronic inflammation is the forerunner of most old age diseases. It is suggested that one takes the help of one of these products after age 50 or so for healthy ageing. In this Section, which herb is to be selected for usage has been discussed. By character these products are essentially nutraceuticals, and are best ingested with food.

Contents
Preface
Abbreviations

Section 1: Biological Ageing
1 Life Span
2 Ageing Body
3 Theories of Ageing

Section 2: Healthy Ageing
1 What is Healthy Ageing
2 Diet and Nutrition
3 Exercise
4 Mental Activity

Section 3: Ayurvedic Herbs Promoting Healthy Ageing
1 Introduction
2 Eight Herbs Promoting Healthy Ageing: Part 1,
Character: Nutraceutical
-Aamalaki
-Bibhitaka
-Haritaki
-Ashwagandha
-Guduchi
-Guggulu
-Mandookparni
-Shataavari

3 Eight Herbs Promoting Healthy Ageing: Part 2
-Aamalaki (Dhatari)
-Bibhitaka
-Haritaki
-Ashwagandha
-Guduchi
-Guggulu
-Mandookparni
-Shataavari
Further reading

About the Authors

Sukh Dev is an organic chemist who worked for his Ph. D. (1950) and D.Sc. (1960) degrees at the Indian Institute of Science (I.I.Sc.), Bangalore. He served as a lecturer at the I.I.Sc. and later as a Research Associate at the University of Illinois. Urbana (U.S.A.), before taking over as Head of the Division of Organic Chemistry (Natural Products) at the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in 1960. In 1974 he shifted to the newly created Malti-Chem Research Centre as its Research Director, from where he retired in 1989, and moved to the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi as INSA Research Professor, from where he retired in 1994. From 1996 to 2010 he has been a Visiting Professor in Dr.B. R. Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research, University of Delhi, Delhi.

He has been a visiting Professor at several USA universities, and has been an invited speaker at several international symposia and conferences and at many universities and research institutes all over the world. He is the recipient of many national awards, and has received the Ernest Guenther Award of the American Chemical Society (1980) and the Third World Academy of Sciences Award in Chemistry.

His research interests include Natural Products Chemistry, especially characterization of biologically active compounds in ayurvedic herbs. He has over 450 publications including 55 patents. He is the author of several books and has also contributed chapters in many books.

Shashi Prabha holds a diploma in Home Sciences, and is an expert in needlecraft. She has been responsible in the formulation of ayurvedic plant products described in the book.