Modern Researches Supporting Ahara Vidhi Vidhana (Rule of Dietetics in Ayurveda)

Abstract

Diet plays a major role to sustain the life and a balanced diet is very essential for maintaining good health. Presently, diet and nutrition in itself have become an elaborate and organized specialty. From a modern perspective, only components of the diet are taken into consideration, while the Ayurvedic approach is quite divergent. It additionally deals with various other aspects like a combination of food article, their quantity, method of preparation, their emotional effect, nature of consumer along with environmental considerations. The new food culture is somewhat like eating at roadside vendors, pubs, parties, fast eating, etc. Everybody is in a hurry that he cannot afford to calm down and sit for food. Such situations lead to serious health concerns and bad habits like low hygienic conditions. In Ayurveda, food is called Mahabhaishyajya (great medicine). Hence it is described before the description of drugs in major treaties of Ayurveda. Everything is very well explained regarding the choice of grains, collection of food items, condition of the digestive system before partaking food, whether earlier food is digested or not, how to eat, where to eat, postprandial formalities of drink and action, etc. The present article consists of several summaries of experimental studies and conclusions which quite resemble and support the theory of Ahara Vidhi Vidhana– (Rule of Dietetics). Thus, it is an attempt to correlate said theory with conclusions of various scientific researches published in peer review journals. Recent advances in research in dietetics are busy in finding the factors affecting the action of food inside the body about which Ayurveda had already mentioned thousands of years ago.