It is also known as “Kwashiorkor,” a disease affecting infants and young children.
It is high Vata and low digestive fire disorder leading to wasting. Usually it is due to insufficient diet or inability to eat properly due to local lesions of mouth and jaw. Low digestive power can be due to various reasons like infantile childhood cirrhosis. There may be impaired absorption due o bowel diseases, like sprue, Children having low birth weight, brain tumor, or mental retardation may contract this diseas.
Edema, skin changes, impaired growth, and fatty liver characterize this. There is typical appearance of a “Pot belly which gives a false impression of health or overmutrition. The child becomes apathetic, but irritable and has a weak cry. The disease has periods of exacerbation and remission. In acute stage, the child may sufer from diarrhoea and dysentery.
The best treatment for improving digestive power is to give regular massage with Vata palliating oils like bala oil, narayan oil, and dhanvantari oil (YR) every day and exposure to early morning sun for 15 minutes. Herbs of choice are bala, shatavari, vidnaga, ashwgandha, and guduchi. These should be given in dose of 1 gram times day with milk or water. Balarishta 10 ml. 3 times a day for 1 month with chyavanprasha 1 teaspoon 3 times a day.
Weatern herbs like fo-ti, ginseng, and marshmallow are also useful.
Diet
Proper nutritious food, which is easy for digestion, like basmati rice with mung, fruits like apple, banana with soup of green vegetables is ideal combination, which gives proper calories, minerals, vitamins, proteins, and fats.
