Diabetes mellitus, otherwise known as the sugar disease, has attained the status of a prevalent disease at a global level during the last few decades. According to a 2014 report of the WHO the global prevalence has nearly doubled from the 1980 to 2014. An estimated 422 million adults are affected by diabetes globally. Interestingly, the disorder is more common in low and middle income countries than in high-income countries. In India, more than 66.8 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes.

The rising trend of diabetes cases has affected the health care system and economy of India greatly. Genetic predisposition combined with changes in the lifestyle associated with urbanization and globalization are favoring the onset of diabetes among Indians. Diabetes care in India needs a massive reform considering the high cost involved at different levels of screening, diagnosis, monitoring, and management of the disease. Therefore, it is extremely important to look for cost-effective measures of diabetes care. Alternative medicines and lifestyle modulating practices play a key role in healthcare in general and diabetes care in particular. 

There is enough evidence to establish the link between diabetes and mental stress and we can find many live examples of such diabetic friends and relatives around us, who happened to get affected by diabetes due to the increased stress they face in professional or personal levels. As aptly put forward by Padma Bhushan Dr. B. M. Hegde, an ardent promoter of the Natural way of healing, “human body is driven by consciousness”, and hence both health and illness need to be considered with the approach of body-and-mind relation. Because of this reason, the treatment approaches providing due importance to the body-and-mind relation will have a better potential of bringing long-term and successful solutions for disorders like diabetes.

Unlike the allopathy treatment, Ayurveda takes into consideration of the body, mind, and soul of the patient during treatment.  All types of natural healing systems evolved as variants of Ayurveda like the Cowpathy follow a similar approach towards treatment. Cowpathy, uses fresh cow urine, distilled cow urine (Gou Arka) and Panchagavya, in different formulations for the treatment a wide range of disorders and diabetes care is one of the prominent applications of this healing approach. Cow urine derivates are comparatively cheaper than conventional ayurvedic formulations as well as allopathic drugs. This makes it affordable even to the poor patients.

Even though the use of Panchagavya in several Hindu rituals, and the inclusion of cow urine in Ayurveda formulations have a long history, application of these products for the treatment of diseases and disorders at large scale has been brought into practice only during recent years. There are many NGOs and natural healers who promote cowpathy and offer Panchagavya and gou arka for treating different disorders and diabetes care is a dominant application. Many cowpathy healers and patients authenticate the fact that use of Panchagavya has complemented the diabetes therapy and better control of blood sugar and enabled the patients to reduce the dose of allopathic medicine. Interaction with practitioners of cowpathy revealed the fact that there are hundreds of regular users Panchagavya and gou arka for diabetes care. The Healthcare Foundation of India vouches for improvement in the diabetes control among its considerably large patient community, with 85% confirming positive changes in their diabetic condition and general health. The immunomodulatory effect of natural products like herbal medicines, Panchagavya and gou arka has been confirmed through experimental trials as well as the case reports of traditional healers, Ayurveda doctors and cowpathy practitioners.

Successful practice by the cowpathy practitioners and product manufacturers on a pan-India hub probably can be considered as the time-tested evidence for the competency and positive impact of this treatment approach for diabetes and many other disorders. The easy accessibility, affordability, long-term relief and the general health protective properties of the cow urine products rank them higher among all diabetes drugs.  options. India has all potential to nurture and promote this treatment practice from the marginal to the mainstream status and rule the diabetes care market..