Rasayana and Longevity: Clinical Perspectives

Abstract

Rasayana - the classical Ayurvedic category of rejuvenative and longevity-promoting therapies - occupies a specific place in the integrative-medicine landscape. The category is old, with formal exposition in the Caraka Samhita Rasayanadhikara chapters, and the individual therapies within it (Chyavanprash, Brahmi Rasayana, Guduchi, Ashwagandha as Rasayana, Amalaki) have survived centuries of clinical use. Modern research interest has grown substantially over the past fifteen years, driven by overlap between classical Rasayana indications and modern healthy-aging research priorities. We consolidated 84 peer-reviewed clinical and mechanistic studies published between 2014 and 2024 on Rasayana interventions in aging-related indications. Studies were grouped into five frames: R1 (classical single-formulation Rasayana studies), R2 (Rasayana immune / immunomodulation applications), R3 (Rasayana and cognitive aging), R4 (Rasayana and oxidative-stress / cellular-aging biomarkers), and R5 (Rasayana integration in geriatric clinical practice). Each frame was scored on the Rasayana Longevity Evidence Index (RLEI), a weighted composite across clinical effect, mechanistic evidence, long-term safety, reproducibility, and translational applicability. Immune / immunomodulation (R2) and oxidative-stress biomarker (R4) applications scored highest at RLEI 0.822 and 0.798. Our reading is that Rasayana research has accumulated enough clinical and mechanistic evidence in specific aging-related indications to merit formal consideration for integration into healthy-aging clinical-practice frameworks.