Effect of Bilwadi panchamula decoction in the secondary prevention of Athisthaulya

Abstract

Worldwide at least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. The risk of coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, and type 2 diabetes mellitus has increased steadily with increasing body mass index. Acharya Chraka has mentioned that "Athisthaulya" refers to Nanathmaja vikara of Kapha. Athistaulya is a person who has an excessive increase of fat and muscles presenting pendulous buttocks, abdomen, and breasts and suffers from deficient metabolism which is called Obesity. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of Bilwadi Panchamula in the secondary prevention of Athisthaulya. A simple random sampling technique was used to select, from a random number generator defining BMI criteria which is 25 < BMI <34.99, patients of Athisthaulya attending the outpatient department of the Ayurveda National Hospital, and were registered for this study. The sample size was calculated using Lawanga and Lemeshow (1991), based on Ayurveda National Hospital statistics. ERC approval was received from Faculty of Indigenous Medicine. Patients were given treatments for four weeks with 1-month follow-up. Patients were given specific instructions on diet and lifestyle modifications without giving a special diet control schedule. This was carried out for six months. The sample size was 45. Majority of them were in the age group between 41-50 years (52.2%) and the mean age was 46.30 + 7.58. The majority of them were married (91.11%), Buddhist (73.3%), Educational level is GCE Ordinary Level (53.3%), worked as officers (36.67%), and lived in urban areas (64.4%). Objective parameters such as Body weight, BMI, and waist circumference in patients were reduced highly significantly (p<0.001) except for mid-upper arm circumference. Also, it was proved that all the subjective parameters of the study were highly significant presenting the p-value.