Removal Of Toxicity in Traditional Iron Based Herbo-Metallic Preparations – A Scientific Perspective

Herbometallic preparations are unique formulations that could be used in very minimal doses to treat various diseases and disorders. Even now, Ayurveda and Siddha practitioners use such herbo-metallic formulations more, owing to their quick action and small dosage as compared to herbal preparations. Various metals such as iron, gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin, lead, etc., are being used to prepare herbo-mineral formulations. The starting metal undergoes various steps of detoxification process involving treatment with plant powders and decoctions and a calcination process where the hard metal is transformed into a fine nano powder. This transformation is made possible only because of possible interactions between the phytoingredients and the metals. When iron is used as a raw material in the preparation of Indian traditional drugs, it is always treated with herbs such as Oryza sativa (seeds), Macrotyloma uniflorum (seeds), Terminalia chebula (fruit), Terminalia bellerica (fruit), Phyllanthus emblica (fruit), Tamarindus indica (leaf), Wedelia chinensis (leaf), Citrus lemon (fruit), and Aloe vera (leaf) that have been used for detoxification, reduction and stabilization of iron. In this study, an attempt has been made to review the scientific perspectives of detoxification of iron used in Indian herbo-metallic preparations and unravel the science involved in this process.