VIRUDDHA IN RELATION TO ADULTRATION AND FOOD POISONING

Introduction: Food is the most important constituent required for growth, energy, restoration and maintainance of the immune system of our body. Modern way of lifestyle has changed a lot the way we consume our food in addition to its deteriorating quality, owing to the inferior quality of ingredients used in the preparation and adulteration. Adultration is a major problem now a days and is basically done by lowering the quality of food by mixing or by substitution of inferior quality of components. Sometimes toxic substances are also added which may cause poisoning in body on consumption. In Ayurveda it can be correlated with Viruddha ahara, as it may exhibit unwanted effects if consumed for a long period of time and can show effects like food poisoning (gara Visha). Viruddha aggravates the bodily doshas but does not eliminate them out of the body and also deteriorates sharirastha dhatus. Methodology: Ayurveda and contemporary literatures as books, journals, articles and related websites were reviewed comprehensively regarding food adulteration and Viruddha ahara. Result and Discussion: On thorough analysis, it is concluded that Adulteration can be correlated with Sampat viruddha and food poisoning with Sanskara, virya and Matra viruddha grossly. Viruddha or adultrated food acts as slow poison vitiating all dhatus, ultimately leading to poisoning and even genetic changes. Food being the basic necessity of life should be pure and free from any type of adultration. With the advancement and researches in treatment modalities of agadtantra branch of ayurveda, the poisoning caused by food adultration or viruddha can be treated in correlation with dushivisha or garavisha chikitsa.