Reviving Ancient Cures

It all began with a bad case of the runs. Sarah Sallon, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, was working with street kids in Calcutta in 1988, treating mostly dysentery, when she contracted the affliction. She dosed herself with the usual antiparasitics, but the diarrhea kept returning. Finally, a practitioner of traditional Indian medicine cured her with a formula of ground herbs and a tonic. With a newfound respect for such alternative remedies, Sallon traveled to Dharamsala, the Indian hill station that serves as headquarters for Tibet's exiled Dalai Lama, where she encountered Tibetan medicine, a once-secret tradition that she is now helping spread to the world.

Because of Sallon's efforts, Israel today hosts the world's largest center for research on traditional Tibetan medicine, what Sallon calls "the neglected sister of Chinese medicine." The Dalai Lama himself, in Israel for an interfaith conference, dropped by Hadassah Hospital last week to bless the Natural Medicine Research Unit, where scientists for the first time are testing Tibetan cures to figure out why at least some of them work.

Most of the Israeli research has focused on Padma 28, a natural remedy produced by Swiss pharmaceutical firm Padma that is based on a formula used in ancient Tibet to treat overindulgence, particularly in meat, fat and alcohol. Padma is the only company in the world to produce Tibetan medicines commercially. For 30 years, the company has sold Padma 28 in Switzerland as a remedy for claudication, the lameness that comes from clogged leg arteries. A number of European studies have documented that patients can walk greater distances when treated with Padma 28, and with no side effects apart from occasional heartburn alleviated by taking the pills with food. Hadassah's study, published a year ago in Britain's Journal of Vascular Investigation, goes further, documenting improvements in circulation.

Having shown that the medicine works, Hadassah scientists turned to investigating how. In a number of studies, they demonstrated that the ingredients in Padma 28 serve as a powerful antioxidant, mopping up the free radicals that contribute to plaque buildup. Since arteriosclerosis is the No. 1 killer in the West, contributing to heart attacks and strokes, the work may offer great promise. The formula is sold over the counter under various names in Europe and has just been introduced as a herbal supplement in the U.S.

Sallon's unit is also experimenting with Padma 179, a traditional remedy for constipation. In a forthcoming paper, Sallon and gastroenterologist Moshe Ligumsky present evidence that it helps relieve the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, the most common intestinal disorder in the West. Sallon is also looking at a Tibetan stimulant that she thinks can be used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as other compounds that address urinary infections, allergies and perhaps even the common cold.

Israelis are not only testing Tibetan herbal cures, but growing them as well. When Sallon learned that Padma had trouble obtaining herbs free of pesticides and herbicides, she convinced Elaine Solowey, a prominent horticulturist, to grow them organically at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava Desert in southern Israel. Solowey has successfully introduced 11 of the plants Padma needs, including black pomegranates, red basil, silver sage and the rare eroboitra tree, a kind of loquat. She's had particular luck with the neem tree, whose medicinal properties are so great it's known as the village pharmacy in India. Among other experimental projects, Solowey is trying to domesticate the costus root, an herb that grows wild in the Himalayas and is nearly extinct.

It is only in recent decades that the dialogue between Western and Tibetan methods became possible. Tibetan medicine, a more than 1,500-year-old synthesis of Indian, Persian, Chinese and local traditions, was taught only in monasteries and practiced exclusively by Buddhist monks. After occupying all of Tibet in 1959, the Chinese devastated many of the medical schools. To preserve the tradition, the Dalai Lama established the Tibetan Medical Institute in Dharamsala and opened up the practice to laymen.

"Tibetan medicine is a huge, ancient data bank for mankind," says Herbert Schwabl, a biophysicist and president of Padma, "and we can show that it works. We could put it in a museum and say, aw, that's nice. But if we don't take care of it, we lose it." The Dalai Lama hopes Western scientists can help Tibetan practitioners produce medicines that are purer and more effective. "We are the same people, East and West," he said in Israel last week. "So we can combine our traditions." Sallon's work already shows what can happen when East and West meet.