Pump iron, don’t eat Chyawanprash

Pump that iron harder instead of depending on ayurvedic nutritional supplements like the chyawanprash.

On a day when lifter Monika Devi denied doping allegations, the medical committee of the Indian Olympic Committee has banned consumption of chyawanprash, an amalgam of 48 ancient herbs, for athletes.

Chyawanprash companies dismissed the allegations. “Our trials show it increases stamina; many Russian athletes are using it. The allegations are baseless,” said a Dabur spokesperson.

IOC Medical Commission member Bharat Inder Singh told HT at least 20 per cent of chyawanprash brands contained components which react with chemicals in the body and produce epiandrosteron, a banned anabolic steroid. “There are heavy metals in many of them,” he said.