INFLUENCE OF FOOD HABITS ON Kushta roga (SKIN DISEASES)

The study was carried out in Ayurveda National Hospital, Sri Lanka during the period of October 2017 to June 2018, to detect whether the diet pattern of an individual has any considerable effect on Kushta roga. The patients (n=50) who visited the hospital for the treatment of Kushta roga was selected randomly for the test group. The age and number matching healthy individuals were selected as the control group. Data was collected from both study group and control group with a questionnaire which included the questions on demographic data and food habits. The results of the study confirmed that the Kushta roga was more prevalent among, female gender around the age group of 50 – 60 years. Also found that the frequent ingestion of food items like mango, pine apple, tomato, achcharu, tinned fish, prawns, bala malu, cuttle fish and curd had a strong effect on Kushta roga. Foods which have pharmacodynamics properties like madhura rasa (sweet taste), guru (heavy), snigdha (unctuous) and ushna (hot in nature) ushna virya (hot potency) Madhura vipaka had a significant effect on Kushta roga. Thus, the study establishes that there is a link between Diet and Kushta roga. Therefore, it is much important to have diet modification to be free from skin diseases. Finally, the outcome of this study could be a platform for other researchers to continue further studies throughout Sri Lanka.