Rasayanas: evidence for the concept of prevention of diseases.

Rasayanas are non-toxic Ayurvedic complex herbal preparations or individual herbs used to rejuvenate or attain the complete potential of an individual in order to prevent diseases and degenerative changes that leads to disease. The present paper reviews various activities of rasayanas to support the above concept, its role as a prophylactic medication and significance in the prevention of diseases in both healthy as well as diseased individuals. The emerging data suggest that the possible mechanisms may be by immunostimulation, quenching free radicals, enhancing cellular detoxification mechanisms, repair damaged non-proliferating cells, inducing cell proliferation and self-renewal of damaged proliferating tissues, and replenishing them by eliminating damaged or mutated cells with fresh cells.