Loha

TRADITIONAL VIEW, WITH SAFETY LIMITS

What the texts say Loha does

• Rasayana — rejuvenative
• Balya — strengthening
• Pandughna — used in anaemia (pandu)
• Medohara — reduces fat
• Chakshushya — good for the eyes

What the evidence says. Some characterisation work exists on loha bhasma's oxide content. Clinical evidence against modern iron preparations is not established.

Side effects and limits

Iron overload is the real risk and it is not theoretical: iron has no active excretion route in the body. Haemochromatosis and thalassaemia are absolute contraindications.

Avoid or ask first: Haemochromatosis, thalassaemia and any iron overload state.; Active infection — free iron favours bacterial growth.

A traditional classification, not a recommendation. The full safety record is below.

AS THE CLASSICAL TEXTS AND THE API PRESCRIBE

The classical drug of pandu. Madhu and ghrita in equal quantity is the standard anupana and the texts warn against giving them in equal weight.

Reported from Sharangadhara Samhita and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Laisha states what the texts prescribe; it does not recommend. No quantity here is adjusted for a particular person — not for agni, koshtha, bala, age, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything already being taken.

Loha is classed among the Dhatu.

Rasa, guna, virya, vipaka and karma are recorded as the classical texts give them, with the text and section named so a student can open the book and check.

Kanta loha is the magnetic variety and is the one the texts prefer; munda and tikshna are not interchangeable with it. Unmarana'd iron filings are not loha bhasma.

Iron; loha bhasma is chiefly iron oxides, largely Fe2O3 and Fe3O4.

A WAY TO REMEMBER IT

Loha in the oldest usage means metal in general, and narrowed to iron — the same narrowing English made when metal became a word for steel in the trades.

Loha bhasma is the classical treatment of pandu and appears in a large number of named yogas — Navayasa churna, Punarnava mandura and others.

Constituents. Iron; loha bhasma is chiefly iron oxides, largely Fe2O3 and Fe3O4.

• This is a study and clinical reference for practitioners and students. The matra and anupana it records are what the classical texts and the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India PRESCRIBE — Laisha reports them, it does not recommend them. They are not a prescription for any particular person, and they are not adjusted for your age, agni, koshtha, bala, pregnancy, kidney or liver function, or anything else you are already taking. Only a qualified practitioner who has examined you can do that.
• Traditional classification is recorded as what the classical texts say, with the text and the place in it named. It is not restated as a finding about a human body.
• Nothing here replaces a qualified Ayurvedic practitioner or a doctor.