For millions of people around the world, ayurveda is an ancient system of holistic health care that provides a therapeutic salve for the mind, body and soul. But as two recent and alarming cases in Metro Vancouver have demonstrated, these naturopathic treatments are proving increasingly dangerous.

Two Indo-Canadians have been diagnosed with heavy-metal poisoning after ingesting ayurvedic remedies, in this case tainted powders comprising herbal formulas combined with the toxic heavy metal lead.

Native to the Indian subcontinent, the 5,000-year-old ayurveda system of naturopathic treaments includes a plethora of herb-based powders, pills, oils and dietary supplements often laced with heavy metals, including arsenic, mercury and lead.

 

In many instances, small quantities of these heavy metals are knowingly ingested in the belief they will cure what ails. In other cases, the practitioners have no idea what they are ingesting, or to what degree.

“Both patients suffered from extremely high levels of lead poisoning from taking ayurvedic remedies,” said Rob Gair, a pharmacist with B.C.’s Drug and Poison Control Information Centre, commenting on the two recent poisonings. In the first case, the patient suffered from vomiting and diarrhea.

Gair said that the first patient had been taking one tablet daily of an ayurvedic medicine purchased in India to “increase vigor” for several years. His blood lead level was 5.2 µmol/L, nearly three times the threshold for toxicity.

Lead generally causes stomach ache, constipation, headaches, irritability, troubles concentrating and anemia. And in the worst-case scenarios, it can cause a type of encephalitis, or acute inflammation of the brain.

The second Indo-Canadian patient was admitted to another hospital after he complained of nausea, vomiting and acute abdominal pain. For the previous six weeks the patient had been taking three teaspoonfuls twice daily of a “herb” for his diabetes, said Gair. The victim purchased the concoction from a temple in India.

“Most people buy ayurvedic remedies in India and bring them back but apparently there are some products in Indo-Canadian grocery stores . . . and they are fairly widely available,” added Gair.

Ayurvedic medicines, known as bhasmas, have been used in India for thousands of years. India’s Union Cabinet recently announced the establishment of the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homeopathy in Shillong to promote the natural remedy. The ayurvedic method of healing even includes a sophisticted system of surgery called “salya-chikitsa.”
There are a total of 225 ayurveda colleges in India, and demand for more schools continues to grow. Ayurveda is also growing in popularity in the West, already enamoured by yoga and eastern mysticism.

It remains unclear why the remedies are now presenting a health problem. Gair suspects there is a lack of quality control at modern production facilities. “In the old days, ayurvedic bhasmas were made by the practitioners themselves,” he said. “As a result, a lot of the heavy metals were likely burned off from the  multiple heating and cooling cycles until the herbs were reduced to an ash-like substance, which were then given to patients.

“Today, we’re not clear why these products that are being manufactured in Indian factories have such higher heavy metal content. It could be that the herbs themselves are contaminated with heavy metals just from environmental contamination, but we’re not entirely sure.”
Since ayurvedic treatments laced with heavy metals are not approved in Canada, Health Canada has warned the public three times since 2006 not to ingest them.

“The reason we issue advisories, called Foreign Product Alerts, is in case anyone travelling abroad brings those products back with them or if they purchase them over the Internet,” said spokesperson for Health Canada, Paul Duchesne.

In June 2006, Health Canada cautioned people against using India-made Annai Aravindh Herbals Rheuma-7 Capsules, Himalaya Diabecon Tablets, Laurel’s Diabecs Capsules and Goodcare Diabet Guard Granules, citing excessive lead and mercury content in each of the products.

Similarly, in June 2005, Canada listed India-made Karela tablets, Maha Sudarshan Churna powder, Yogaraj Guggul tablets, Sudarshan tablets, Shilajit tablets and Safi liquid as dangerous remedies.  “Those specific products contain heavy metal and were not approved by health Canada,” said Duchesne.

Belinda Babbage

Safi liquid, produced by Delhi’s Hamdard Labs, was found to contain arsenic at 40 times the permissible level for an ingestible product. “Ayurvedic treatments can be risky if they are not administered properly,” said Belinda Babbage, who has been practicing the ancient medicine for seven years. “There needs to be more education about how to use the remedies properly.”

Babbage is the founder of Bablends in Vancouver, which blends Western science with holistic and ayurvedic systems.  She believes that there is a stigma surrounding ayurveda in Western medicine that hampers productive dialogue in the larger community. “People often look for medicinal alternatives when they randomly come across ayurvedic remedies,” she said.

“Unfortunately though, it’s not talked enough about. As a result, many will improperly use ayurveda, which could have detrimental consequences.”