Monthly Archives: September 2021

Martha Hanna-Smith is an educator who grew up on the 92 square-mile island of Acklins in the Bahamas.

As an artisan and educator, Hanna-Smith has been teaching local residents how to turn their crafts into entrepreneurship for over 40 years.

She works with the natural materials of her homeland, including straw, shells, and sand, to make culturally relevant art. Other specialties include her herbal teas, jams, and jellies.

I drank bush teas all my life, so thats all I know. I knew nothing about cocoa or Ovaltine, so I had to resort to what we had in the backyard, Hanna-Smith says. All of the plants, like the soursop and all of the others, were there.

She learned about herbs by observing her elders. If she saw a plant she didnt recognize, she asked to learn more.

I learned a lot from elderly people, just by asking questions and also seeing what they used, she says.

Eventually, Hanna-Smiths work with plants gained attention, and she received a distinction for her study on bush medicine. In 2006, she published a book called Bush Medicine in Bahamian Folk Tradition.

Hanna-Smith has been instrumental in teaching about the health benefits of bush medicine, establishing local craft associations, and embodying and preserving Bahamian culture.

The practice of bush medicine was one of the many contributions of the Africans to this part of the world, Hanna-Smith says. Its regarded in the Bahamas as an African survival [necessity].

She notes that bush medicine is connected to the transatlantic slave trade, and the plants used when slavery was in effect are among those still used today.

We believe that Africans, when they were transported here, brought seeds and plants with them, and they passed on their knowledge of these plants, Hanna-Smith says.

Bush medicine is most often used to make tea, but it can also be used for salves, poultices, and rubs. Some commonly used plants include:

Fever grass is one of the most well-known bush medicines and easily identified by its fragrance.

Known as lemongrass in other parts of the world, its used to relieve fevers and promote relaxation. The flavor is similar to lemon peel, and the plant helps support the immune system.

Fever grass is one that you must wash carefully because dogs love to pee on it and that can make you very sick, Hanna-Smith warns. Once washed, you can boil it, but some people also crush it. And I find that method gives it more strength.

Cerasee has a reputation as a versatile herb in the Bahamas. Its used for common ailments, from stomach pains to colds, and its also beneficial for diabetes.

Many Bahamian adults have memories of being forced to drink the bitter tea as sick children.

Kamalame, also called gumbo limbo, is known as the healing tree. Its sap can be used to treat skin reactions to other plants.

In her study of bush medicine across islands, Hanna-Smith often discovered different names for the same plants.

For instance, sapodilla, or dilly in the Bahamas, is known as neeseberry in Jamaica. A plant known as blue vervain in Jamaica is called blue flowers in the Bahamas.

Our parents used to use blue flowers every Sunday morning to clean out their systems. Hanna-Smith says.

In most cases, the uses of the plants are the same across islands, but there were some instances in which plants were used for purposes different from those known to Hanna-Smith.

Hanna-Smith notes that much of this knowledge was kept by Obeah practitioners and witch doctors, who were among the enslaved people living in the Bahamas.

These were, and still are in many cases, people familiar with the medicinal properties of plants believed to have connections with the spiritual world.

While these medicine people were usually important to their communities, the term witch doctor has fairly negative connotations in modern parlance.

We have a really rich history. In that period, 1600 to 1800, the Europeans and the Africans were here, and the Europeans did not agree with the use of this bush medicine, Hanna-Smith says.

The oral traditions of Obeah, Vodou, Santeria, and Shango are still commonly practiced in the Caribbean, despite the colonial legacy that labels them as nefarious and even demonic.

These stereotypes can still be seen in popular culture.

For instance, the 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog features a character named Dr. Facilier, an example of the distortion and villanization of Haitian Vodou common in white culture.

Why such negative treatment?

Aside from the religious clash of the colonizers religion, these traditions, and the plant medicine that went with them, was a power that African people had and retained while they were enslaved.

Their knowledge and, in many cases, mastery of herbalism gave them the ability, to a certain extent, to control and heal their own bodies.

This is a right Black people have often been denied.

Practitioners knew which plants would heal wounds, ease stomach aches, induce vomiting, and even affect the reproductive system.

This allowed Bahamians to take care of themselves and each other, even if they didnt have access to the same medical care and treatment as white colonizers.

While some indigenous knowledge of bush medicine has been lost, Hanna-Smith believes its important for the tradition to be passed on and continued through generations.

We have some plants that are poisonous, and everyone needs to know to avoid them, she says. We need to know how to use the plants that are good. People should not die with this information.

This conviction is part of what fuels Hanna-Smiths work.

Bush medicine isnt a relic of the past.

Its a possible avenue to a brighter, more empowered future for the Bahamian people and a potential gateway to a specialized industry that Bahamians can develop using ancestral knowledge.

This would not only lead to improved physical health, but also to economic well-being.

Both are undeniably interlinked.

Previously, others capitalized on the expertise of elders in the African diaspora. Its essential for this information to be protected and used for the good of African people.

For Hanna-Smith, the future of bush medicine looks positive.

Bahamian students are engaging in research projects on bush medicine. And some teachers are giving assignments that require students to identify plants and their medicinal uses.

Including bush medicine in formal education helps ensure the tradition will be understood and practiced for years to come.

I want to see my book in all Bahamian schools and sold in grocery stores, Hanna-Smith says. I want to see wellness centers where people can get the teas they need.

She adds that shes working on a second book with more plants and kitchen remedies.

Hanna-Smith notes that people often visit the Bahamas and collect information on bush medicine. In many cases, information is given too freely.

Then, they return to their countries and capitalize on the knowledge of African descendants.

For instance, soursop has grown in popularity because of claims that it helps fight cancer though theres a lack of human studies to confirm this.

This kind of reactionary consumption distorts the true uses of the plant, turning it into a commodity thats removed from its biological and cultural context.

This makes it easier to manipulate public perception.

Soursop products are increasingly marketed as cancer killing, though this claim isnt supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Soursop is a food and medicine staple in the Caribbean, and its increasing popularity puts it at risk of being overharvested and becoming endangered.

Hanna-Smith emphasizes the importance of getting to know plants and herbs in your local ecosystem. She shares some ideas, like:

These practices can help you become more aware of the medicinal plants around you.

You can begin to explore native plants by:

At the same time, exercise extreme caution.

In learning about plant medicine, its important to pay attention to the details. Proper identification can be the difference between life and death.

For instance, Hanna-Smith shares that kamalame often grows near poisonwood, a plant that lives up to its name.

She recalls a time that someone died after using poisonwood, thinking it was kamalame.

If you use the wrong plant, I will sing for you, she says, implying that a funeral will soon follow.

Never consume plants youve identified based on an app, online discussion, or book. These methods are for education and exploration only. Truly learning to identify plants takes time, in-depth study, training, and lots of practice.

Always verify a plants identity with an herbalist, botanist, or other qualified professional before using it for any reason.

Bahamians love bush medicine, because it connects them to their land, their heritage, and their ancestry. Its a tradition they trust.

The tradition of bush medicine helped many Bahamians maintain autonomy over their bodies and their health during the era of the transatlantic slave trade.

It continues to be a way to honor the past while empowering the future for the Bahamian people.

Alicia A. Wallace is a queer Black feminist, womens human rights defender, and writer. Shes passionate about social justice and community building. She enjoys cooking, baking, gardening, traveling, and talking to everyone and no one at the same time on Twitter.

Original post:

Decolonizing Alternative Medicine: The Bahamian Bush Medicine Legacy - Healthline

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many to stay home, a lot of normal life went online. From work to fitness to social life, much of the world now relies on online platforms to stay connected.

Its no surprise that theres been a rise in virtual well-being services, too.

While online therapy or counseling is nothing new, more alternative practices have also made their offerings video-friendly. Take, for example, remote energy healing, something I had the opportunity to try earlier this year.

Im a big fan of alternative medicine and have had a lot of success with this type of healing in the past. But that was in person.

I was certainly skeptical about how much it could really do through a screen. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

Read on to find out more about my experience, how remote energy healing works, and what you need to know before giving it a try.

The term energy medicine was coined in the 1980s to describe a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Its also known as:

Its based on the belief that the body is permeated by an energy field that can affect our health and well-being, also called subtle energy, vibrational energy, or simply life force.

Known as qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine or prana in Ayurveda, its believed that we can work with this energy to find balance and healing.

According to most CAM philosophies, both physical and mental health conditions can come about when this energy is stuck or not flowing properly.

The goal of energy healing is to restore the balance of energy to support physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Energy healing practices can involve physically touching the body or working non-physically with the bodys energy.

The latter type of practice can, in theory, be done remotely.

Several modalities may include energy healing, including:

Some of these practices are supported by scientific evidence, while others arent. In addition, only some can be done via distance.

For example, Reiki, chakra healing, and aura cleansing are three types of practices that can be done remotely, while acupuncture, which uses needles to stimulate energy flow in the body, cant.

Reiki is an increasingly well-known type of energy healing.

The Japanese technique was created in the early 20th century and involves a practitioner placing their hands near the body to stimulate energy flow and promote healing.

Chakra healing is an ancient Indian healing modality. Its believed that we have seven main chakras, or energy centers, in the body, as well as potentially hundreds of lesser-known chakras.

When the chakras are all in balance, the theory goes, we feel optimum health and well-being.

In a chakra healing session, a practitioner may use a mix of different techniques, like crystals and breathing, to realign the chakras and heal the body and mind.

Aura cleansing is also believed to be rooted in ancient Indian medicine. The aura is said to be the energy that surrounds the body, creating an external field. Different people may have different colors showing up in their auras at any given time.

In an aura cleansing session, a practitioner uses items to cleanse the aura, including:

Many forms of alternative healing, especially those based on working with energy, are difficult to prove with scientific evidence.

However, some research has shown interesting results.

A 2014 review of randomized trials suggested that Reiki therapy may help reduce pain and anxiety, though more research is needed.

According to results from a 2011 study, in which participants had six 30-minute sessions over a period of 2 to 8 weeks, people who had Reiki felt greater mood benefits compared with people who didnt have the treatment.

A 2013 review noted that research into energy therapies, like healing touch, therapeutic touch, and Reiki continues to demonstrate efficacy for symptoms commonly associated with cancer, including:

Although theres less research when it comes to remote energy healing, some shows promise.

A pilot 2015 study found that people being treated for cancer who received 30-minute sessions of distant Reiki for 5 days, in addition to regular medical care, had lower levels of pain, anxiety, and fatigue.

While energy healing typically takes place in a physical space, many practitioners are offering services online. This is known as remote healing, distance healing, or distant healing.

Practitioners run their sessions in exactly the same way, except theyre over video.

Typically, youll lie down at home and set up a video camera on your phone or laptop, so your healer can see and hear you and vice versa.

Most energy healers believe that energy can be transported through space and time, which means that energy healing can take place even over a geographical distance.

I tried a remote healing session from a practitioner trained in Reiki.

My session took place over Zoom and lasted around 40 minutes. It kicked off with a little introduction from the practitioner about what energy healing is and how the session would work.

Next, we spoke about how I was feeling and my expectations for the session. At that moment in time, I was feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed with the amount of work on my plate.

During the midst of the pandemic, I was also having a hard time with the constant uncertainty and what ifs of life.

We started by doing a few minutes of breathing exercises together to help me feel calm, relaxed, and ready to receive the healing.

After that, I lay down on my bed under a blanket with an eye mask on. I positioned my laptop to face me, so the practitioner could see me through the camera.

As the healing began, the only sound I could hear was her breathing. Her deep breaths continued throughout the session.

Not long after I lay down, I started to feel deeply relaxed. As the healer inhaled and exhaled deeply, it was almost as if the sound was passing through me, relaxing me as it went.

It was similar to experiencing a sound bath or maybe even a massage. At some points, I felt areas of my body tingle.

As the session drew to a close and the healer brought me back to the room with her voice, it was like waking from a restorative nap. I felt a sense of calm and peace, and my mind felt a lot clearer.

It was like someone had created additional space in my brain.

After the session, I took some time to just be still and do nothing. I didnt want to rush back into my normal day-to-day life.

Energy healing can be used as a complementary practice alongside other types of therapy and medical treatment.

Theres no evidence that energy healing can cure specific physical or mental health conditions.

If youre experiencing any physical or mental health conditions, be sure to always consult a qualified medical professional.

If you can, having a team of practitioners from different fields and areas of expertise in your corner is the best way to support your overall health and well-being.

The best place to start when looking for a practitioner is with personal recommendations. Reach out to your circle and find out if you know anyone who has had success with a remote healer.

You can ask:

You can also use online platforms, like the Energy Medicine Directory. Its important to note that directories like this are typically not regulated and practitioners are able to list themselves.

One benefit of remote healing: You can work with a healer in any part of the world. This means you arent limited by geography.

I came away from my remote energy healing session with a feeling of deep relaxation and mental clarity. Id definitely do it again if I was feeling frazzled or stressed.

While the scientific evidence is limited, theres some research that suggests remote energy healing may be beneficial for your health.

Although it should never replace medical care, energy healing is a great option to have in your self-care toolbox.

Elizabeth Bennett is a British journalist covering beauty, health, and wellness. Her work has appeared in ELLE, Refinery 29, Marie Claire, and Womens Health. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Remote Energy Healing: How It Works and What the Science Says - Healthline

Berrent suggested that COVID might come to be regarded not as a respiratory disease but as a neurological one. I fear that there is a higher viral load involved with the Delta variant and it congregates in the nose and mouth, she said. What happens? Just using common sense, it goes up the nose, it knocks out the olfactory system, and whats right next to it? The vagus nerve, which controls all of our automatic functioning.... We know that this virus crosses the blood-brain barriera critical layer of immune defense that prevents microorganisms from infecting the central nervous systemand we are seeing evidence of direct brain damage.

The interviewer spoke up: Now, I thought there was pretty clear evidence that we dont know yet whether its crossing the blood-brain barrier. (In fact, many infections begin in the mouth and nose without affecting the nervous system, and, although research has suggested that the spike protein may breach the protective barrier in mice, there is no conclusive evidence that the coronavirus infects the brain in humans.)

We know, Berrent responded.

Elsewhere in the program, Berrent took issue with the C.D.C.s decision not to investigate breakthrough COVID cases that didnt require hospitalization. There is no such thing as a mild case of COVID, she said, as she often does. Let me explain what they mean by mild. They mean encephalitis. They mean COVID pneumonia. They mean end-stage organ failure.

The interviewer paused, a quizzical look on her face. So youre saying that end-stage organ failure is counted as mild? she asked.

For a moment, Berrent hesitated. It sure is, she said.

Berrents advocacy is informed in part by a group of COVID survivors that the public, and even many medical professionals, never see. She hears from people who say that they are struggling with unusual, nonrespiratory symptoms, such as erectile dysfunction and chronic diarrhea. One Survivor Corps member is a young mother with a feeding tube and eleven rotten teeth.

Through Berrent, I met Nick Gthe, who became a close adviser to Survivor Corps earlier this summer. Gthe, an independent filmmaker in his early fifties, told me his wifes story. In its tragic ambiguity, it is typical of many stories in the long-COVID movement.

In April, 2020, Heidi Ferrer, Gthes wife and a former writer for Dawsons Creek, felt shooting pains in her toes. Then she developed stomach pains and diarrhea. Ferrer and Gthe got rapid COVID tests at a drive-through site, and they came back negative. (Rapid tests are less reliable than P.C.R. tests.) In the weeks that followed, Ferrer experienced palpitations, muscle pains, and a fatigue so profound that she had difficulty walking up stairs.

By the fall, Ferrer was convinced that she had long COVID. She searched for doctors specializing in the condition, but couldnt find any. She visited acupuncturists and alternative-medicine practitioners, and started taking ivermectinthe horse dewormer that has since been shown not to help with COVID-19. By the spring, shed developed dramatic, involuntary jerking movements. She felt an internal buzzing, and told Gthe that it was like her veins had champagne bubbles fizzing in them. Unable to sleep, Ferrer started taking enormous doses of Ambien, sometimes a pill every two hours. Because shed never tested positive for the coronavirus, her doctor hesitated to refer her to a newly opened long-COVID clinic. She consulted a neurologist, who, Gthe told me, tried to imply it was all in her head. Ferrer had no documented history of mental illness, but she did have a strong family history of depression: both her father and her grandmother had died by suicide. She had struggled with alcoholism, but had been sober since 2017.

On May 22nd, Gthe went to pick up their thirteen-year-old son, who was at a friends house. On the way back, Gthe said, I have to talk to you about your mom. I want to believe shes going to get better. But I have to be honest: I dont know how this is going to turn out.

Back home, he and his son went upstairs, where they found Ferrer in the master bedroom, hanging by a drape from the four-poster bed. Gthe told his son to go to his room. He tried to ease Ferrer down, but couldnt. He raced downstairs for scissors, and finally cut the drape.

When they reached the hospital, Ferrers heart was still beating, but it was clear that she wouldnt recover. A doctor asked Gthe how long his wife had been depressed. Shes not depressed, Gthe said. This is from her body breaking down from long-haul COVID. The doctor asked Gthe what that was. Just Google it, he replied.

In June, Gthe submitted an obituary to Deadline, which went viral. Heidi always said, If something happens, let the world know what long-haul COVID has done to me, he said. Through Twitter, Gthe connected with Berrent, and learned that Ferrer had been a member of Survivor Corps. In recent months, he has joined Berrent at about a dozen events. He now fields Facebook messages from people around the world, who relate their struggles with long COVID and ask for help. Not infrequently, someone shares suicidal thoughts. I walk someone off the ledge every week, Gthe said. I tell them, Things are moving much faster than you realize. Hope is coming. Help is on the way. People are paying attention now.

Others, pointing out that Ferrer never tested positive for the virus, have questioned whether COVID is to blame for her death. Such uncertainty characterizes many cases of long COVID less extreme than Ferrers. Doctors rightly say that some of the symptoms attributed to long COVID can result from any number of conditions. Yet many patientsboth with and without documented coronavirus infectionsare convinced that their problems are enduring aftereffects of the virus.

Defining a new disease is a complex task, full of hazards. Some physicians believe that the conditions severity and scope have been overblown. In a recent column for the health-news site STAT, Adam Gaffney, a critical-care physician, wrote that we need to start thinking more criticallyand speaking more cautiouslyabout long COVID, arguing that the narrative being spun about the long-term effects of infection is getting ahead of the evidence. A recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by the psychiatrist Jeremy Devine suggested that many long-COVID symptoms may be psychologically generated or caused by a physical illness unrelated to the prior infection. Devine proposed that long COVID is largely an invention of vocal patient activist groups.

Continue reading here:

The Struggle to Define Long COVID - The New Yorker

Media Credit: Grace Hromin | Senior Photo Editor

Nearly 255,000 cases of breast cancer are found in women annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health last month to create alternative treatments for breast cancer patients.

Mei-Yi Wu, an associate research professor of medicine, received a five-year grant to perform experiments on interferons which are proteins in the immune system that help cancer cells become drug-resistant and their role in tumor growth. Wu said her goal is to develop a breast cancer therapy that directly targets interferons to prevent drug resistance and alleviate side effects patients would normally face from more invasive treatments, like chemotherapy, that target all cells in the body.

Pro-tumor effects of interferons protect damaged tumor cells from dying, she said in an email. Our study tries to find a therapeutic approach that can block the pro-tumor effects.

Wu said cancer cells develop resistance to common treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which patients undergo to kill any cancer cells that remain in the body after surgery. She said her team will identify the factors that enable interferons, or IFNs, to make cancer cells drug-resistant and then inhibit them to make breast cancer therapy more effective.

Drug resistance is the source of 90 percent of chemotherapy failures, according to a 2017study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In addition, our study is expected to identify new therapeutic targets, which will pave the way toward new medical interventions to treat breast cancer, Wu said.

She said she will use the grant to hire a postdoctoral researcher who will conduct experiments, buy lab materials and supplies like reagents and pipette tips and cover publication costs. She said the grant will end in July 2026, and her team will send annual progress reports to the NIH throughout the grant period.

Wu said her research is critical because breast cancer is currently the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women in the United States. Nearly 255,000 cases of breast cancer are found in women yearly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts in surgery and medicine said Wus research can help eliminate drug resistance in breast cancer cells through specific treatments like targeted immunotherapy trials.

Susan Dent, a professor of medicine and the co-director of the cardio-oncology program at Duke University, said 70 percent of women who have breast cancer have no risk factors, like family historyor a genetic mutation. She said research like Wus is critical for understanding plausible causes responsible for the progression of cancer like the role of IFNs.

A lot of what were doing now is looking at how can we look at whats happening within the body itself and use whats already happening in the body to assist us in either preventing or trying to cure a cancer, Dent said.

Dent said cancer cells might find other methods of replicating even if Wus team discovers how to target IFNs and their pro-tumor effects. She said more than one drug that specifically targets IFNs may be required to stop tumors from forming.

We know that cancers can be very adaptive and tumors, and so when were thinking about pathways and ways to try and prevent cancers from growing, its important that we always keep in mind that they may have other pathways in which to grow, Dent said.

Jean Bao, an assistant professor of surgery at Stanford University, said IFNs and other regulators in the human immune system can also have positive effects like preventing tumor growth, in addition to the negative effects like increasing drug resistance in cancer cells. She said Wus research team will have to study how to get rid of the pro-tumor effects of regulators while still preserving their anti-tumor effects.

She said Wus research will further ongoing studies of immunotherapy trials that personalize breast cancer treatments in the clinical world. She said Wus therapy will be more targeted than other therapies like chemotherapy, which kill cells in the body non-discriminatorily and cause many side effects.

Common side effects of chemotherapy treatment include fatigue, hair loss and nausea, according to the American Cancer Society.

In the long run, once they identify a target that passes through the different phases of studies, then eventually it could be something that could be tested in human subjects, Bao said. Thats really where the medication or the therapy becomes clinically meaningful and useful.

This article appeared in the September 20, 2021 issue of the Hatchet.

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Professor receives grant to develop breast cancer therapy - GW Hatchet

The latest study and research done by Gartner Inc suggests that worldwide, end-user spending on wearable devices has increased by 18.1 percent in 2021. The rise in remote work and increased interest in health monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic was a significant factor driving the market growth. But if we ask, whether there was a similar growth in people buying health insurance? The answer is no. So, what is this data really indicating?

People investing more in gadgets that measure everything from blood oxygen saturation and heart rate to blood pressure and sleep patterns is nothing but a sign of increasing managed care and a proactive approach to health. Unprecedented events have compelled us to rethink and reassess the way health is looked at.

Till recently, maximum emphasis has been given to curative science and a lot is been invested in this field. However, the pandemic has proven that health is no more about just medicines.

One biggest lesson taught by COVID-19 was that once the damage is done, it is irreversible. Treatments can help to a certain extent, but it eventually makes one dependent on some of the medicines for lifelong and side effects come as a complimentary package.

Another interesting study published by Grands View Research suggests that the global complementary and alternative medicine market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 22.03 percent from 2021 to 2028. Globally, the right to health definition is constantly evolving and the overall regulatory scenario is also changing in favor of alternative and complementary healthcare.

Preventive and primary healthcare services are the first line of defence that supports the secondary and tertiary healthcare services of every country. Most of the developing and underdeveloped nations tertiary infrastructure is not just limited but its access is also confined only to the metros. Strengthening primary facilities and focusing on preventive healthcare models is thus a necessity.

Building immunity and developing preventive care is highly critical. The transition today is such that everything is getting redefined. Scientists are increasingly looking to food products to help prevent the illness, slow disease progression, and treat symptoms. This has resulted in double-digit growth of the nutraceutical industry as well. To extend the disease-free life span by preventing and limiting disease complications, nature-based remedies are acting as complementary to the mainstream treatments.

The trend suggests that by the time patients resort to and receive conventional medicine and treatment for the ailment, in a majority of the cases, the severity is already multiplied. With pandemic or no pandemic, the shift towards preventive healthcare is here to stay and it will offer tremendous opportunities for the nutraceutical industry.

Since April 2020, we have seen a surge in demand for dietary supplements, and preventive wellness products. Looming uncertainties around the third wave, threat of new strains of the virus, all have further boosted the sales of various immunity-boosting products in the market. In fact, with people taking overall health seriously, other categories are also exhibiting consistent double-digit growth quarter on quarter.

Eye health products, stress-relieving supplements, sleep disorders, anxiety all these have seen good traction in the last year. Pandemic has impacted consumers in many ways and it has completely transformed the way nutraceuticals in specific and healthcare, in general, is perceived today.

The importance of traditional medicines gained its due recognition, with sustainable cure methodologies of Ayurveda at the helm. The shifting patterns from sick care to preventive care and complete wellness is pertinent to imbibe, resulting in longevity and gratification. Hence, what is come into being now is an extension of informed lifestyle choices influencing the dynamics of a changing healthcare model.

(Sanjaya Mariwala is Executive Chairman and Managing Director, Omniactive Health Technologies Ltd and Founder President of the Association of Herbal and Nutraceuticals Manufacturers of India (AHNMI))

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COVID-19 impact: Building immunity and developing preventive care is highly critical - Free Press Journal