Pharmaceutical preparation of Saubhagya Shunthi Churna: A herbal remedy for puerperal women.
BACKGROUND
In the last few decades, there has been exponential growth in the field of herbal remedies. Pharmacopoeial preparations like avleha or paka (semi-solid), swarasa (expressed juice), kalka (mass), him (cold infusion) and phanta (hot infusion), kwatha (decoction) and churna (powder) form the backbone of Ayurvedic formulations. Newer guidelines for standardization, manufacture, and quality control, and scientifically rigorous research will be necessary for traditional treatments. This traditional knowledge can serve as powerful search engine that will greatly facilitate drug discovery.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study is to standardize Saubhagya Shunthi Paka in churna (powder) form. The powder form makes this traditional drug more stable for long-term storage and hence, easier to preserve.


METHODS
Saubhagya Shunthi Paka is an ayurvedic formulation containing Shunthi (Zingiber officinalis) as one of its chief ingredients. The basic preparation of this drug is a semisolid. We checked the microbial load and nutrient values (using International Standard IS and Association of Official Analytical chemists AOAC methods)


RESULTS
The powdered form of Saubhagya Shunthi Churna yielded a weight loss of approximately 17.64% of the total weight of ingredients. The total energy of Churna (calculated based on nutrient content) was found higher over Paka.


CONCLUSIONS
Saubhagya Shunthi Churna may be a good therapeutic and dietary medicine for Indian women, which may be easily prepared at home.
Department of Rasa Shastra, Institute Medical Sciences Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221 005, India.
Khushbu
K
Shukla
Manjari
M
Dwivedi
Neeraj
N
Kumar