Impact of Biofield Treated Formulation on Immune Biomarkers of Female Sprague Dawley Rats

What is it about?

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory potential of Biofield Energy Treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) on a new proprietary compound composed of herbs and minerals (herbomineral formulation). The test formulation contains the mixture of the herbal root extract ashwagandha and the minerals (zinc, magnesium, and selenium). The test formulation was divided into two parts. One part was denoted as the control without any Biofield Energy Treatment, while the other part was defined as the Biofield Energy Treated sample, which received the Biofield Energy Healing Treatment remotely from eighteen renowned Biofield Energy Healers and defined as the Biofield Energy Treated formulation. The immunomodulatory parameters viz. humoral immune response (IgG and IgM), cellular immune response (CD4+/CD8+), hematological parameters, lipid profile, hepatic enzymes, and sex hormones (progesterone and estrogen) in female Sprague Dawley rats were analyzed. The results of humoral immune response data showed decreased levels of IgG and IgM by 80.54% and 78.94% respectively, in the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation group (G3) compared with the disease control group (G2). Estimation of cellular immune response data revealed a significant (p≤0.01) increase in the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ by 161.71% in the G3 group, while it was increased by 100.50% in the untreated test formulation group (G4) compared with the G2 group. Thus, the humoral and cellular immune responses were significantly altered in the G3 as compared with the G4 group. The TLC and neutrophils counts were significantly increased by 11.34% and 1.34% respectively, in the G3 compared with the G2 group. Lipid profile data suggested that the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation showed improvement in the tested parameters compared with the untreated test formulation group. However, significant improvement was found in the tested hepatic biomarkers i.e. decreased levels of the SGOT, SGPT, and CK-MB by 14.28%, 8.54%, and 20.79% in the G3 group compared with the G2 group. The levels of total protein, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, and globulin were increased by 11.93%, 1.24%, 6.10%, and 20.74% respectively, in the G3 compared with the G2 group. Consequently, the levels of progesterone and estrogen were significantly increased by 199.86% and 50.19%, respectively in G3 with respect to the G2 group. In conclusion, overall data suggest that The Trivedi Effect®-Biofield Energy Healing Treatment on the herbomineral formulation can be used for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, stress management, and anti-aging by improving overall health.

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Why is it important?

The therapeutic properties of herbal formulations have been recognized and utilized worldwide since ancient times. Plant products and their extracts are used in both allopathic health care systems as well as complementary and alternative health care systems in order to improve the health and immune system [1, 2]. The herbal drugs in the traditional systems of medicine are widely used against many immunomodulatory activities and autoimmune disorders, but there are limited experimental studies based upon herbomineral formulations that combine herbs or plant extracts with minerals. Medicinal plants and minerals have been widely reported to have many healing properties including anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-stress activities, autoimmune, antiaging, and many more. However, due to high toxicity and several adverse effects of the available synthetic immunomodulatory drugs, the interest has been shifted towards the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) that significantly modulates the immune system to fight against diseases [3, 4]. Many medicinal plants and minerals have been reported to boost the immunity that helps to improve the overall quality of life (QoL) by maintaining the organic body resistance. The pharmacological activities of the plants secondary metabolites and minerals have been found to be a relation with the immunostimulatory effect [5]. Immunomodulatory therapies have now been considered as an alternative to the conventional approach in many disease conditions. For the estimation of immunomodulatory effect, estimation of immune biomarkers have been considered as the gold standard. In general, medicinal plants and minerals serves as a therapeutic and safe alternative therapeutic approach with respect to the synthetic drugs. Based on the literature, a new proprietary herbomineral formulation was formulated with a combination of the Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) root extract and three minerals viz. zinc, magnesium, and selenium. Each constituent of the test formulation is commonly used in nutraceuticals and various herbal medicines for many important activities such as immune modulating properties, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-infective, antiaging, and anti-viral activities [6-9]. Ashwagandha biological activity is mainly reported due to the presence of withanolides, and it is used as complementary medicine in alternative therapy [10]. Apart from its common attributes such as antibacterial, immunomodulatory and antitumor effects, many clinical and preclinical data have been available with respect to the immunomodulatory potential [11]. The importance of minerals such as selenium, zinc, and magnesium to modulate the immune system and their synergistic impact with herbal drugs have been well-defined [7]. This formulation can be used for better therapeutic effect in immune compromised patients affected with cardiovascular diseases, aging and stress related diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. Along with the herbomineral formulation, the Biofield Energy Healers in this study have used Energy Medicine (Biofield Energy Healing Treatment) as a complementary and alternative approach to study the impact of the Biofield Energy Treatment on the herbomineral formulation for its immunomodulatory potential. In recent years, Biofield Energy Treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) has been reported worldwide as an alternative treatment method which has been known for its significant impact on various cancerous cells [12]. According to many scientific studies, Biofield Energy Healing has been reported to have significant outcomes that may prove to be a more cost effective alternative approaches [13]. Amidst many CAM therapies, there have been an extensive number of scientific reports that use Biofield Energy Therapy (or Healing Modalities) as the preferred model of treatment, with several benefits to enhance the physical, mental, and emotional human wellness. Additionally, holistic medicine/integrative medicine addresses not only the entirety of the body, but the mind and spirit as well. The human body has the power to produce a low intensity electromagnetic signal known as the Biofield [14]. Thus, a human has the ability to harness energy from the environment (Life Force) and transmit it into living organisms and nonliving materials without any adverse effects and in a manner that is more cost-effective than more conventional methods. This process is known as Biofield Energy Healing Treatment (The Trivedi Effect®). Based on the literature data, Biofield Energy Treatment in terms of a CAM approach is practiced worldwide [15] in addition to herbal medicine. The National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has recognized and accepted Biofield Energy Healing as a holistic CAM health care approach in addition to other therapies, medicines and practices such as natural products, deep breathing, yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation, meditation, massage, special diets, homeopathy, progressive relaxation, guided imagery, acupressure, acupuncture, relaxation techniques, hypnotherapy, healing touch, movement therapy, pilates, Rolfing structural integration, mindfulness, Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese herbs and medicines, naturopathy, essential oils, aromatherapy, Reiki, and cranial sacral therapy. To this day, Biofield Energy Healing has had a significant impact in the transformation of living organisms and nonliving materials. Even further, Biofield Energy Healing Treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) has been published in numerous peer-reviewed science journals in different fields such as cancer research [16], microbiology [17-19], genetics [20, 21], pharmaceutics [22, 23], agricultural [24, 25], materials science [26-28], biotechnology [29, 30], nutraceuticals [31, 32], and human health and wellness. In this study, the authors sought to explore the impact of Biofield Energy Healing (The Trivedi Effect®) on an herbomineral formulation for its immunomodulatory properties viz. humoral and cellular immune responses, hematology, lipid profile, hepatic enzymes, and sex hormones in female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.