The Defenders of AYUSH

It seems to me that I can reproduce my blog posts from Quora here without any risk of being banned. Therefore:

The Defenders of AYUSH

Vinay Kumaran

I recently answered a question about my opposition to AYUSH.

Vinay Kumaran's answer to Why is Dr. Vinay kumaran skeptical about other forms of medicine except allopathy?

I merely pointed out that I did not care about the name of a medicine or treatment but that any treatment administered to patients should be supported by evidence of its efficacy in the form of well conducted clinical trials.

Some might recall an earlier discussion in which a banker and avid Ayurveda enthusiast insisted that since his pet dog’s ‘back problem’ was resolved by an Ayurvedic massage, the general efficacy of all Ayurvedic medicine was therefore demonstrated, including for the treatment of liver cancer. My admittedly sarcastic response to that gentleman led to my answer being collapsed and no-doubt contributed to my recent one week ban from Quora.

A similar response to this answer serves to illustrate the thought processes and probably intelligence of the defenders of the faith.

The respondent is one Shubham Sharma whose profile reads ‘lives in India’. User

He made a rather strange offering to the altar of evidence based medicine:

‘Since you think Ayurveda is bad and you always ask for proof for its effectiveness may I suggest you to give patanjali toothpaste a try for a month.’

I’m not at all sure what the toothpaste offered by Baba Ramdev has to do with the efficacy of Ayurveda in the treatment of disease but I responded with an appeal to logic.

‘You have a very strange idea of what constitutes proof of effectiveness.’

He responded, enlarging upon his strange thought processes.

‘The product is marketed as totally ayuevedic with very little or no chemicals.If it's better than normal Chemical toothpaste then it will suggest that Ayurveda is not as ineffective as you think.I have read many of your answers and you asked for proof so I advised you this.’

Ignoring, for the nonce, the strange spelling and grammar, I responded, desperately trying to maintain civil discourse:

‘Labelling a consumer product like toothpaste ‘Ayurvedic’ means it does not have to meet the same quality standards as toothpaste sold as a dental hygiene product. I don’t see how this has anything to do with the efficacy of Ayurvedic medicines. However, thank you for the example. I can use it for a blog post.’

His rather strange response, which does not really seem to have anything to do with the subject under discussion was:

‘I have one query.Drinking 100 mL of alcohol every day or alternate day is considered beneficial.Is this true? Thank you.’

With thought processes like these, I am not surprised at the vigorous proliferation of the Baba’s enterprises. Perhaps this will eventually lead to a Darwinian survival effect and improve the average intelligence of the Indian population.