Ayurveda

摘要

In November 1987, ethnobotanist Palpu Pushpangadan was trekking through the tropical forests in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Pushpangadan and his colleague were struggling to keep up, but their guides, men from the local Kani tribe, kept popping brownish-black fruit about the size of a cardamom pod into their mouths, and walking briskly ahead. Curious, the scientists ate the fruit and felt a surge of energy. Locally known as arogyapacha, meaning evergreen health', the fruit, Trichopus zeylani-cus, is noted in ancient Indian texts as a source of health and vigour. With the tribes help, Pushpangadan and his colleagues studied the plant extracts, isolated the active ingredients and developed an energy-boosting drug, Jeevani, combining T. zeylanicus with two other herbs mentioned in the texts.