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NEW YORK, USA, April 9, 2004: India’s traditional system of medicine, ayurveda, has been for the first time included in an advisory body to the US National Institutes of health (NIH) with the appointment of researcher Bala V.Manyam. Manyam, a director of Plummer Movement Disorder Center, in the Neurology Department at the Scott & White Clinic in Temple, Texas, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NACCAM) of the NIH. The 12-member NACCAM, advises NIH on the applications for research grants and includes leading experts in the field of alternative medicine.



Manyam is an allopathic doctor with deep interest in ayurveda. He found that ayurvedic truths discovered by the ancient sages still hold today. He has been struggling to submit those truths to the rigors of modern scientific research. He mentioned how he as a medical student in 1960s came across reference in ayurvedic texts about kunch seed, or guruganji in kannada, as effective birth control agents. In the early 60s when India was exercised over its overpopulation problem, He presented his leads but he was discouraged by his professor. Manyam’s investigations also contributed to advances in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Manyam also mentioned in a paper presented at the National Parkinson Foundation: “Physicians in ancient India first used macuna seeda in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease called kampavata in ancient India over 4,500 years ago. Despite the fact that Mucuna was used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease in ancient times, it is important today to establish that the drug does not have adverse effects on various vital organs,” he said. Manyam’s role at NACCAM will be to give his evaluation of proposals for research in the field of ayurveda.

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