Our blood is composed of – the red blood cells, white blood cells and the platelets. The first ones or the red cells contain hemoglobin; an iron rich protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. Anemia is a condition when our blood doesn’t have enough red cells. Described in ayurvedic literature as ‘Pandu roga’ or commonly referred to as ‘Raktalpta’. Anaemia affects a large number of our population, more commonly the women. Modern medicine describes anaemia according to its causes that range from simple deficiencies of iron, folic acid, vitamin-B to certain conditions where the red cells are damaged due to infections, intake of drugs and some autoimmune or chronic disease process. Ayurveda attributes wrong or under nutritious diet and the doshic imbalance or the physiological malfunctioning as the main reasons for anemia. On an average more than twenty percent of the female population suffers from anemia.  

Except weakness and fatigue, mild anemia does not produce any serious symptoms. Its worsening or chronic forms are accompanied by a number of systemic disturbances like the pallor of skin, gums and nails, tachycardia or fast heart beat, shortness of breath, chest pain, anorexia and low immunity. In women these presentations are compounded by many other problems like menstrual disturbances such as excessive or less bleeding, irregular periods, recurrent infections, edema, general rundown and lassitude.