Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India
Background: It is well known that diet plays a vital role in the pathogenesis, prevention, and management of diseases. In indigenous medical systems of India, diet is an integral component of treatment, and such knowledge is poorly documented. This study quantified the consensus about the dietary re...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2016-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Ethnic Foods |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618116301159 |
| _version_ | 1819017123530276864 |
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| author | Subramanian Mutheeswaran Seenisamy Esakkimuthu Perumal Pandikumar Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi |
| author_facet | Subramanian Mutheeswaran Seenisamy Esakkimuthu Perumal Pandikumar Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi |
| author_sort | Subramanian Mutheeswaran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: It is well known that diet plays a vital role in the pathogenesis, prevention, and management of diseases. In indigenous medical systems of India, diet is an integral component of treatment, and such knowledge is poorly documented. This study quantified the consensus about the dietary recommendations prescribed by the noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India.
Methods: After obtaining prior informed consent, 87 noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners were interviewed using the free-list method. The data were segregated into different groups and the consensus was analyzed using informant consensus factor (Fic).
Results: In the case of recommended diets, blood ailments, fever, hemorrhoids, male infertility, kapha, and dermatological ailments had high Fic values. In this group, 500 use-reports were recorded for the treatment of 27 illness categories. The fruits of Vitis vinifera (blood ailments), Panicum sumatrense (fever), and Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (hemorrhoids) were the highly recommended foods. In the case of restricted diets, dermatological ailments, jaundice, gastrointestinal, vadha, and blood ailments had high Fic values and 26 illness categories were reported with 368 citations. In this category, Solanum melongena (dermatological ailments), Tamarindus indica (jaundice and anemia), and Gallus gallus domesticus (gastrointestinal ailments) were the important restricted foods.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that a major portion of local knowledge, other than that of local uses of medicinal species, is still undocumented and underutilized. If the recommendations of dietary changes take the claims from local knowledge beyond scientific evidence, the rate of adherence may increase, since these recommendations have a traditional-brand identity. This study also warrants the need of scientific analyses in some cases. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:58:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f8432160b3794d6798d12ed21df9eaf3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-6181 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T02:58:31Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Ethnic Foods |
| spelling | doaj.art-f8432160b3794d6798d12ed21df9eaf32022-12-21T19:18:16ZengBMCJournal of Ethnic Foods2352-61812016-12-013426326910.1016/j.jef.2016.11.007Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, IndiaSubramanian Mutheeswaran0Seenisamy Esakkimuthu1Perumal Pandikumar2Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu3Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi4Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDivision of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDivision of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDivision of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Nungambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IndiaDepartment of Botany and Microbiology, Addiriyah Chair for Environmental Studies, College of Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaBackground: It is well known that diet plays a vital role in the pathogenesis, prevention, and management of diseases. In indigenous medical systems of India, diet is an integral component of treatment, and such knowledge is poorly documented. This study quantified the consensus about the dietary recommendations prescribed by the noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: After obtaining prior informed consent, 87 noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners were interviewed using the free-list method. The data were segregated into different groups and the consensus was analyzed using informant consensus factor (Fic). Results: In the case of recommended diets, blood ailments, fever, hemorrhoids, male infertility, kapha, and dermatological ailments had high Fic values. In this group, 500 use-reports were recorded for the treatment of 27 illness categories. The fruits of Vitis vinifera (blood ailments), Panicum sumatrense (fever), and Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (hemorrhoids) were the highly recommended foods. In the case of restricted diets, dermatological ailments, jaundice, gastrointestinal, vadha, and blood ailments had high Fic values and 26 illness categories were reported with 368 citations. In this category, Solanum melongena (dermatological ailments), Tamarindus indica (jaundice and anemia), and Gallus gallus domesticus (gastrointestinal ailments) were the important restricted foods. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that a major portion of local knowledge, other than that of local uses of medicinal species, is still undocumented and underutilized. If the recommendations of dietary changes take the claims from local knowledge beyond scientific evidence, the rate of adherence may increase, since these recommendations have a traditional-brand identity. This study also warrants the need of scientific analyses in some cases.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618116301159ethnodieteticsinformant consensus factorSiddhaTamil Nadu |
| spellingShingle | Subramanian Mutheeswaran Seenisamy Esakkimuthu Perumal Pandikumar Savarimuthu Ignacimuthu Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India Journal of Ethnic Foods ethnodietetics informant consensus factor Siddha Tamil Nadu |
| title | Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India |
| title_full | Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India |
| title_fullStr | Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India |
| title_short | Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India |
| title_sort | quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained siddha practitioners of virudhunagar district tamil nadu india |
| topic | ethnodietetics informant consensus factor Siddha Tamil Nadu |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352618116301159 |
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