Abstract

COMPARATIVE ESTIMATION OF THE AMOUNT OF HEAVY METALS PRESENT IN DIFFERENT MARKETED CHAWANPRASH, A HERBAL FORMULATION

Biswajit Khara, Sumana Roy*, Binita Kar, Barnika Debnath*, Priyanka Ray, Prapti Chakraborty

ABSTRACT

Chyawanprash, a polyherbal compound, is widely used as a tonic, rejuvenator, immunomodulator, and enhancer because of its nutritional content. About 50 therapeutic herbs are processed to make chyawanprash prepared in accordance with the Ayurvedic books' recommendations. In India, chyawanprash is commonly sold and used as a food supplement. Chyawanprash is well-known for increasing muscle strength and endurance without overwhelming Capha. It strengthens the vatta, pitta, and kapha doshas and has the same benefit as rasayana for all cells in the body. The purpose of this research was to find out how much heavy metals were present in five different brands of Chyawanprash sold in India. The goal is also to create a stable, effective chawanprash and assess its heavy metal qualities. Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight and a density at least five times greater than that of water. Themost frequent heavy metals that cause human poisoning are mercury, lead, chromium, cadmium, and arsenic. Heavy metals interfere with biological functions such as growth, proliferation, differentiation, damage repair, and apoptosis. So from the study we want to analyse the amount of heavy metals present in marketed chawanprash. The technique used to detect the heavy metals is FAAS. The technique is based on the principle that ground state metals absorb light at a specific wavelength. Metal ions in a solution are converted to atomic state by means of a flame. Metals were found to be present in varied concentrations in the marketed chawanprash. The concentrations of heavy metals are within the permissible limits as per WHO & FDA except in Zn which in higher in Dabur Chawanprash & Zandu Sona Chandi Chawanprash. Other all the marketed chawanprash tested are comparatively good for human health.

Keywords: Herbal formulation, Chawanprash, Trace Elements, Heavy metals, WHO, FDA, Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Heavy metals toxicity, Heavy metals limits, Detection methods, Sample Preparation, Wet digestion.