Background: India's AYUSH systems of medicine, Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa, and Homeopathy, use natural self-healing abilities of body and mind. Their ways to treat non-communicable diseases reduce use of modern drugs with their side-effects. Scientific acceptance requires them to be explained from a modern biological perspective. This paper indicates how to achieve such an integrative approach, using aspects of biology not yet taught in medical schools.
Methods: A new, 'Sandwich Model' of biology is introduced that includes holistic epigenetic regulation; also, complexity biology's concept of self-organized criticality; a systems treatment of organism function from Ayurveda; and Ayurveda's six stages of etiology, Shadkriyakala.
Results: Molecular biology is upgraded by the sandwich model's layer of epigenetics, leading to a new, scientific definition of health as optimized regulation. Fractal Physiology then expands this to explain self-healing, used in all AYUSH systems. Ayurveda contributes in two ways: its systems approach yields a holistic understanding of organism functioning, while Shadkriyakala improves our understanding of pathophysiology.
Discussion: These additions create an integrative biology; modern biology expands to include AYUSH systems' concepts. It provides a scientific basis for India's plan for integrative medical education, with AYUSH systems treated as equal to modern medicine.
Keywords: AYUSH; Fractal physiology; Health; Integrative medicine; Optimal regulation.
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.