A Conceptual Study of Fetal Nourishment

In Ayurveda, the child in the womb is known as garbha. The way that the garbha is nourished is explained in a very clear way from the very delicate stage to the gradual development. It has made it impossible to understand many Ayurveda principles. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the Ayurveda knowledge of fetal nutrition mechanisms with modern science. Literature related to fetal nutrition was collected from various Ayurveda classics, contemporary literature, and recent research articles from 2008 to 2020 by using PubMed, Google Scholar, Research Gate, etc. Ten research articles related to the mechanism of fetal nutrition, the manner of distribution of nutrients, nourishment according to Ayurveda, and the modern aspect of fetal nourishment were included. From the stage of the fertilized egg to its full-term delivery, Rasa-dhatu is the source of nourishment. Before organogenesis, the embryo is nourished by the mechanisms of upasneha (filtration) and upasveda (filtration/secretion). Innovative research studies on the nutrient transformation from mother to embryo have confirmed that the initial mechanism of nutrient transformation is histotrophic through uterine tissue secretions. It aligns with the upasneha and upasveda mechanisms proposed in Ayurveda. After organogenesis, the fetoplacental circulation gets established and nutrition becomes haemotrophic, which is similar to the description of the nutrition of the fetus via garbha nabhi nadi and rasavaha dhamani. These blood vessels could be explained by kedari kulya nyaya. The other tissue nutrition theories like ksheera dadhi nyaya, khale kapota nyaya, eka kala dhatu poshana nyaya can be applied to understand the various mechanisms of tissue nourishment in intrauterine life as well as postnatal life. Accordingly, it can be clearly understood that the fetal nutrition theories described in both medical philosophy are much similar. In Ayurveda, garbha poshana vidhi have been mentioned under Garbhaniparicharya and the responsibility of educating the society is primarily responsible to us.