HYDERABAD: Immunity was the buzzword when the Covid-19 pandemic hit us. Everyone was in on the latest trend to boost their immunity from vitamins, kadhas to breathing exercises. Multivitamins grew in demand as people wanted to shield themselves from any sort of illness.
Now, instead of just popping vitamin pills, you can directly inject the vitamins into your veins to ensure 100 per cent absorption. The intravenous (IV) method of consuming vitamins will hasten the process of strengthening your immunity as with pills, it takes longer to see the results. This process has also got a thumbs up from experts.
Alla Deeksha Reddy, one of the founders of Pop Spot, which provides spaces on rent to retail business, in collaboration with city-based wellness clinic Happy Heads, conducted IV drips session at a Pop Spot. “There are different kinds of drips such as immunity drips, glow drips and hangover drips. You can take vitamins as tablets, but their absorption rate is only 20 to 30 per cent. With drips, you get a 100 per cent absorption rate,” says Deeksha.
Before you want to get some of that vitamins in your veins, you must go through a blood profiling and a consultation session with the doctors. One can either go with the drips provided by Happy Heads or customise it according to their needs. Each drip takes around 45 minutes to an hour. “It is a very relaxed environment and not like a diagnostic centre or a clinic.
You have recliners, they give you blankets and you can order your juices, tea or coffee. You also have a TV where you can watch Netflix and Amazon. These drips are like saline infused with vitamins,” says Deeksha.
Nikitha Yadav Kanjerla, marketing communication director at Happy Heads, says due to our hectic lives, the majority of our vitamins we consume orally are lost because of the stress we go through. “The whole point of taking vitamin drips is to provide 100 per cent absorption.
If you consume supplements orally for three to five months, it equals to three to four drips. Orally consumed supplements are not stored properly and over a period of time, they lose their nutritional value. With the IV drip, people can feel the difference in 48 hours,” says Nikitha. There are four doctors involved in the process — gynaecologist, orthopaedic, general physician and anaesthetist. Orthopaedic Dr Venkaiah Mulakalapalli, who is the brain behind the concept, says that IV therapy is quite accepted in the world and they are the first ones to get it in India. “People get confused with IV and IVF (In vitro fertilisation). Just to clarify, we are not a fertility clinic and people should not get confused,” says Dr Venkaiah.
Sujatha Stephen, an RD chief nutritionist at Yashoda Hospitals, says IV drips were used for skin treatments and other conditions. However, she advises that these drips must be taken those who are severely malnourished and have vitamin deficiencies.
“Taking vitamins in a natural form is more absorbable. Here, your body might need higher concentration of vitamins and higher absorption. The absorption depends on age, metabolism and immunity. Nowadays, because people are unable to get vitamins and minerals through food, they are opting for IV vitamin therapy. It has to be monitored by qualified health professionals,” she says.