Herbal Medicine: Open Access

New homeopathic formulation of native dry fruits of Thar Desert, Rajasthan to combat mild anaemia

A drug is decided on symptoms of an individual patient in homeopathy. As life style and geography influences the gene expression and associated diseases, so patients may have some differences in their symptoms of a particular disease accordingly. To cover this situation and expand the range of homeopathic formulations it will be more beneficial to include new raw material resources from untouched geographical regions of the world. The World Health Organization Says, there is about 1.62 billion people with anaemia in the world and half of them is due to iron deficiencies. They can be successfully treated with homeopathy. Underutilized fruits, nuts and vegetables of Thar Desert, Rajasthan are rich sources of carbohydrates, proteins, energy, vitamins like C, B and A, minerals( Iron, Zinc, Calcium etc.) and reported to  have the capacity to prevent and cure various diseases like anaemia, diabetes, hypertension and hidden hunger. It will be more beneficial to include these new raw material resources from untouched geographical region of the world to combat malnutrition anaemia. Aqueous-alcoholic extract( 30%) of  dry fruits of Thar desert of Rajasthan viz. Prosopis cineraria, Capparis decidua, Cymbopogan tetragnobolis, Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Ziziphus nummylaria, Citrulus lanatus   and Cucumis colossus  were prepared separately and  homeopathic mother tincture was prepared after mixing them in equal volumes.10 drops thrice a day of the mixture was given to randomly selected 10 outdoor patients of a local homeopathic clinic for 28 days along with main homeopathy remedy as supplement. CBC investigation reports before and after extract mixture administration were compared. Analysis of the CBC records after extract administration showed improvement in anaemic condition as indicated by mean increase of Hemoglobin from11.68g to 12.19g/dL, WBC count from7,16,000 to 8,08,000, Platelet count from 3,08,200 to 3,41,400, PCV from 37.51% to 38.42%, RBC count from 4,19,800 to 4,46,900  with no significant changes in other hematological indices like MCH, MCHC, MCV and DLC. The increasing trend of hematological parameters within normal range values showed that aqueous –alcoholic mixture of native dry fruits of Thar Desert may combat mal nutrition anaemia. These are very preliminary and robust studies and further long term and detailed studies are required.

Keywords: Desert, dry, fruits, homeopathy, mild anaemia.

Amit Kumar Vyas