ABSTRACT
Ayurveda or Traditional Indian Medicine (TIM) is considered to be the oldest- practicing system of medicine. Recently, the herbal drug industry has witnessed explosive growth. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) systems are in great demand, particularly Traditional Chinese Medicine and TIM. The growing popularity of CAM among people, has led to the onset of research at molecular and clinical levels. Clinical studies in TIM can be divided into two distinct groups: Controlled studies and uncontrolled studies. Annotated Bibliography of Indian Medicine, a data bank on Indian Medicinal Plants provided by Central Council of Research in Ayurveda and Siddha and journals related to clinical aspects of CAM were used for searching data, updated until Feb 2007. The data generated after a systemic literature study was documented according to human anatomy. A systemic study afforded several single or poly-herbal, and herbo-mineral and purely mineral based formulations used in TIM. Much of the clinical research was related to respiratory and musculoskeletal system.
