King Charles, who is still being treated for cancer, traveled to India to receive Ayurvedic treatment in his favorite retreat. He arrived in Bengaluru on October 27 to spend a few days at the Soukya International Holistic Health Center (SIHHC), where he was also joined by his wife. The visit was initially kept secret, but after several British newspapers reported itBuckingham Palace confirmed that it had indeed taken place. In the flood of somewhat crazy news coming from the Anglo-Saxon world in recent days (including Donald Trump’s wish to appoint Robert Kennedy Jr. to head the American Department of Health and Dr Oz to pilot the public health program ‘health insurance), this had perhaps escaped French readers. It is no less revealing of the extent of the diffusion of therapeutic practices not based on science.
In India, the royal couple’s day began with a morning yoga session, followed by breakfast and a “rejuvenation treatment” before lunch. After a brief rest, a second round of therapy followed, ending with a meditation session before dinner and lights out at 9 p.m. Charles is a big fan of Ayurvedic medicine and has already visited the center nine times. SIHHC Director Dr Mathai was even invited to attend his coronation: “A remarkable honor to be part of such a historic event and grateful for the support of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, who have long believed in the SIHHC integrative holistic approach to health,” he posted on Instagram.
Charles’ passion for Ayurvedic medicine and yoga is not new. In 2019, he already declared that “the ancient practice of yoga has proven beneficial effects on the body and mind […]and the evidence-based development of therapeutic yoga is, I believe, an excellent example of how yoga can contribute to health and healing. This not only benefits the individual, but also conserves valuable and expensive health care resources for other people, where and when they are needed most.” Big fan of the practical, he even added two years later that “by its very nature, yoga is an accessible practice that allows practitioners to manage stress, build resilience, and promote healing.”
Prevention, balance, universal interconnection…
Ayurveda is an ancient Indian system of healing that includes meditation, physical exercise, nutritional advice, various forms of “detoxification”, relaxation, massage, dietary supplements and yoga. The concepts of disease prevention, balance, universal interconnection, body constitution (prakrit) and vital forces (doshas) are important principles of Ayurvedic medicine. Medline, the largest database of medical articles, currently lists more than 6,000 articles on Ayurveda and another 6,000 on yoga, as well as more than 10,000 on meditation. However, solid and encouraging evidence on the real benefits of these practices has remained very rare.
Ayurvedic remedies are usually mixtures of several ingredients and can consist of plants, animal products and minerals. They often contain toxic substances, such as heavy metals, which are deliberately added in the ancient but erroneous belief that they can have positive effects on health. Several Ayurvedic remedies are known to cause liver damage.
In fact, most studies on Ayurvedic treatments have methodological shortcomings and are therefore inconclusive. A Cochrane review, for example, concluded that “there is currently insufficient evidence to recommend the use of these interventions in routine clinical practice.” The effectiveness of Ayurvedic remedies depends, of course, on the exact nature of their ingredients. These being very variable, generalizations are therefore problematic. Promising results only exist for a very small number of unique ingredients, notably boswellia, turmericincense and andographis paniculata.
Yoga, useful against depression and in preventing heart disease
For meditation, the evidence is equally weak. Our own analysis on the effect of meditation on cardiovascular pathologies, for example, concluded that “despite the large number of included studies, heterogeneity was substantial for many results, which reduced the certainty of our conclusions “. The majority of studies were small and the risk of bias was unclear for most areas. Overall, we found very little information on the effects of meditation on cardiovascular clinical parameters, and limited information on blood pressure and psychological outcomes, for people at risk for cardiovascular disease or suffering from cardiovascular disease. ‘established cardiovascular disease.
Yoga includes gentle stretching, breath control and meditation exercises. The objective is to strengthen “prana”, the vital force as it is understood in traditional Indian medicine. It is therefore claimed that it would be useful for most conditions. Many clinical trials have been carried out on various yoga techniques. They usually suffer from poor design and are therefore not always reliable. Several systematic reviews have summarized the results of these studies. An overview review included 21 systematic reviews covering a wide range of conditions. Nine systematic reviews reached positive conclusions, but many were associated with a high risk of bias. Only depression and reduction of cardiovascular risk were the subject of unanimously positive conclusions.
No interest against cancer…
Yoga is generally considered safe. However, a large-scale investigation found that approximately 30% of yoga class participants experienced some type of adverse effect. Although the majority experienced only mild symptoms, the survey results indicated that patients with chronic illnesses were more likely to experience adverse effects. Some experts have warned that some yoga teachers attempt to recruit their clients to adhere to the aspects the most occult yoga.
Could Ayurvedic medicine help King Charles beat his cancer? According to the leading proponents of this field, Ayurveda is the way forward for the sick. They consider cancer to be the result of a long-term alteration of the Doshas and a persistent imbalance of Agni (digestive fire) which extends down to the tissue level. This imbalance would lead to the accumulation of Ama, undigested waste and chronic inflammation, resulting in malformation of the Dhatus (tissues). Ayurveda is believed to address these imbalances and offer an integrative path to help patients overcome these challenges by restoring Dosha balance, healing the tissues, and improving mental clarity. Concepts never demonstrated, which go against science. We can therefore doubt whether these practices bring any real benefit to the sovereign, despite his lasting passion for alternative practices.
One thing seems certain, however: Camilla did not benefit from her Ayurvedic medicine treatment. Shortly after returning to the UK, she fell ill and announced the cancellation of all her engagements following a serious viral infection…
Edzard Ernst, Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
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