Medicinal plants as food - An Ayurvedic preventive healthcare

Abstract

The sages of Ayurveda explained about the Aushadha Dravyas as well as Ahara Dravyas elaborately. They listed many medicinal plants along with the vegetables as Ahara Dravyas but the use of those are becoming rare now-a-days. We have to collect, identify and analysis these Dravyas and implement in present scenario as preventive and curative purpose from every corner of the globe. During the folklore survey conducted in the costal Karnataka, we observed that people are using medicinal plants as food in their daily life in the form of Tambali or Chutney routinely. They use locally available plant species like Alternanthera sessilis, Eclipta alba, Cassia occidentalis, Cassia sophera, Centella asiatica, Bacopa monnieri, etc. according to its seasonal availability. The selection of these species on every day acts on different tissue systems of the body and prevents the disease. Here we will discuss about such medicinally useful plant species, their properties and preventive aspects, method of collection, preparation, cultivation and propagation in detail.