AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY TO ASSESS THE CHANGES IN OJAS AND DHATU SAARATA AMONG INDIVIDUALS ON LOW CARBOHYDRATE DIET
Introduction: A restricted diet is more often pursued by those wanting to lose weight. Nowadays, the number of people following diet plans have increased and many of them choose low carbohydrate diet for the purpose of their diet plan. A low carbohydrate diet limits intake of carbohydrates and emphasizes on food high in protein and fat. Among different fundamental concepts of Ayurveda, ojas is a unique concept that explains about the basic status of physical and mental health in an individual. Saara is the purest form of a dhatu and ojas is its vital part. It is responsible for health, immunity, consciousness, longevity and memory. So, a reflection of the health status of an individual can be made by assessing the status of ojas. Dhatu saarata means the excellence of each dhatu and saara pareeksha can determine the qualitative excellence of each dhatu. Since ojas and dhatu saarata can reflect the strength or health of an individual, assessing them on individuals taking low carbohydrate diet can give an idea about their health status. Materials & methods: The present study was an observational study. Individuals taking low carbohydrate diet were selected for the study in a consecutive fashion from the Nutrition Centre, Naripparambu, Tirur, Kerala as per the inclusion criteria. After obtaining written informed consent, Ojas was assessed using the validated tool for the assessment of status of ojas, which was developed in the department of Kriyasareera, Government Ayurveda College, Kannur, Kerala by Dr Amrutha Elamon. Dhatu saarata was assessed using the validated computer assisted questionnaire software, Ayusoft developed by C–DAC Pune. The participants were observed for a period of one month. To examine the changes, the assessments were repeated after one month. Result and discussion: It was observed that, a significant increase in ojas was observed. Change in dhatu saarata could be observed except in majja saarata. Rasa, asthi, shukra satva and sarva saarata showed increase while decrease was noticed in rakta, mamsa and medo saarata the reduction in weight might be the reason for the changes in saarata as well as ojas as it reduces medo dhatu and avarana if any, leading to the improvement in overall health. Conclusion: Taking low carbohydrate diet for a period of one month can improve the ojas and dhatu saarata significantly. But the results cannot be extrapolated into a general postulate, as the findings can vary for a different time period of diet intake.