Ayurvedic aspect of digestive diseases

The term ‘gut health’ has gained a lot of popularity in today’s health industry. The importance of gut health is not just proper digestion and assimilation but Ayurveda provides extensive insights on that. The gut microbiome does help to generate a healthy ecosystem by breaking down the food we eat and absorbing the nutrients from it.

Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of Medicine has implied on gut health more than 5000 years ago. The key player in Ayurvedic pathogenesis of digestive diseases is 'Agni'. Acharya Charaka has mentioned if Agni/digestive fire is proper a person will be devoid of any diseases. Impaired Agni is considered as the source of imbalance of Doshas and the root cause of diseases. Agni has been classified into Jataragni, Dhatvagni, and Bhootagni. The Agni which is present in Jatara (stomach and duodenum) is called Jataragni.

Ashtanga Hridaya mentions Jataragni to be the reason for the duration of life, health, valor, ojas (the essence of the dhatus), the strength of all the bhutagni and dhatvagni. In short, governing process of the digestive system, which is called Agni is associated with digestion, assimilation, and metabolism. The treatment methodology in Ayurveda on various digestive diseases revolves around the concept of modulating and managing Agni. When Agni is impaired there can be three pathological manifestations - Vishama, Tikshna, and Manda Agni. Vishama Agni is associated with an excess of Vata, Tikshna Agni is associated with an excess of Pitta and Manda Agni is associated with an excess of Kapha. Ayurveda principles always mention that food should be consumed only after the complete digestion of the previous food. When food is taken without proper hunger, it hampers the digestive process and leads to various digestive disorders.