Giloy is linked to liver damage? Here's what the government has to say

NEW DELHI: Taking a notice of a media story based on a study that related Giloy to liver damage, the Ministry of Ayush termed it as completely 'misleading'.

The plant TinosporaCordifolia (TC), also known as Giloy or Guduchi, was shown to cause liver failure in six people in Mumbai, according to this study.

The Ministry believes that the study's authors failed to provide the necessary details about the cases in a methodical manner. They did not analyse the components of the herb that the patients consumed, it added.

"It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that the herb taken by the patients is TC and not something else.To add to the credibility, the authors would have sought the advice of a botanist or consulted an Ayurveda expert, " the ministry stated in a statement.

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"In fact, there are many studies that point out that identifying the herb not correctly could lead to wrong results. A similar-looking herb TinosporoCrispa might have a negative effect on the liver. So, before labellinga an herb, such as Giloy, with such toxic nature, the authors should have tried to correctly identify the plants following the standard guidelines, which they did not," the statement further added. "Other than this, the study has many flaws. It is unclear that what dose the patients had taken or whether they took this herb with other medicines. The study has not taken into account the past or present medical records of the patients."

"It would not be out of context to mention that there is scientific evidence that TC or Giloy can protect the liver, nerves, and other organs. It was discovered that the keywords ‘Guduchiand safety' alone had 169 papers in the public domain. Similarly, a fast search using the keywords T. Cordifolia and effectiveness returns 871 results," the ministry said.

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Apart from that, it said linking Giloy or TC to liver damage would be misleading and harmful to India's traditional medicine system, as the herb Guduchi or Giloy has long been utilised in Ayurveda.

In place of proved safety of hepatoprotective properties, it has proper pharmacopoeia standards. Pharmacovigilance has not detected any adverse events in any clinical practise or clinical trial.

The effectiveness of TC in the treatment of a variety of illnesses has been clearly established.

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