Determinants of Prakriti, the Human Constitution Types of Indian Traditional Medicine and its Correlation with Contemporary Science

Abstract

Background:Constitutional type of an individual or prakriti is the basic clinical denominator in Ayurveda, which defines physical, physiological, and psychological traits of an individual and is the template for individualized diet, lifestyle counseling, and treatment. The large number of phenotype description by prakriti determination is based on the knowledge and experience of the assessor, and hence subject to inherent variations and interpretations.Objective:In this study we have attempted to relate dominant prakriti attribute to body mass index (BMI) of individuals by assessing an acceptable tool to provide the quantitative measure to the currently qualitative ayurvedic prakriti determination.Materials and Methods:The study is cross sectional, multicentered, and prakriti assessment of a total of 3416 subjects was undertaken. Healthy male, nonsmoking, nonalcoholic volunteers between the age group of 20-30 were screened for their prakriti after obtaining written consent to participate in the study. The prakriti was determined on the phenotype description of ayurvedic texts and simultaneously by the use of a computer-aided prakriti assessment tool. Kappa statistical analysis was employed to validate the prakriti assessment and Chi-square, Cramer's V test to determine the relatedness in the dominant prakriti to various attributes.Results:We found 80% concordance between ayurvedic physician and software in predicting the prakriti of an individual. The kappa value of 0.77 showed moderate agreement in prakriti assessment. We observed a significant correlations of dominant prakriti to place of birth and BMI with Chi-square, P < 0.01 (Cramer's V-value of 0.156 and 0.368, respectively).Conclusion:The present study attempts to integrate knowledge of traditional ayurvedic concepts with the contemporary science. We have demonstrated analysis of prakriti classification and its association with BMI and place of birth with the implications to one of the ways for human classification.

DNA methylation analysis of phenotype specific stratified Indian population

“…Some of these have been implicated in stable phenotypes like low birth weight, height and obesity [ 60 , 61 ]. Therefore the identified mPSRs were correlated with BMI and showed the association of Kapha prakriti with high BMI and Vata with low BMI, which is in consistency with our earlier report [ 23 ]. Global 5-mC content between Kapha and Pitta there was no significant difference indicating that such similarity may be limited at the global level.…”

“…In a large population based study, we have previously shown an association between BMI and prakriti [ 23 ]. Hence, mPSRs were tested for their correlation to BMI by categorizing the hybridized samples into two groups: a) individuals with BMI less than 18 as low BMI (n = 23) and b) individuals with BMI greater than 25 as high BMI (n = 23).…”

“…Qualitative subjective assessment of prakriti by ayurvedic physician and was arbitrated by the use of Ayusoft, thus providing a quantitative approach of prakriti determination. Detailed background, phenotypes of prakriti and methodology for the selection of subjects are described in our previous publication (Additional file 1 ) [ 23 ]. Briefly, 3416 healthy male volunteers of age group between 20–30 years were screened after receiving the institutional consent.…”

A prospective study to assess the association between genotype, phenotype and Prakriti in individuals on phenytoin monotherapy

“…It had 85 questions pertaining to the anatomy, physiology, and psychology with weightage ranging from 1 to 10 to ascertain the dosha (Expression of each trait in a given Prakriti ) Traits corresponding to physical or anatomical characteristics were assigned higher weightage whereas those pertaining to physiological had lesser weightage. The resultant output from the software displayed an individual's final Prakriti as the combination of predominant dosha s (dvandvaja) and the Prakriti was presented as vata pitta (VP), pitta kapha (PK), kapha vata (KV), kapha pitta (KP), vata kapha (VK), pitta vata (PV) and sama (combination of vata, pitta and kapha ) [11], [12], [13]. The scores of ≥ 50% and 25%–35% were considered as cut-offs to classify each individual into primary and secondary dosha s, respectively.…”

A glimpse of Ayurveda – The forgotten history and principles of Indian traditional medicine

“…A report indicating the correlation of dominant prakriti with the Body Mass Index (BMI) and place of birth in individuals was published 31 . Studies involving subjects of various prakriti types viz.…”