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Can Taking Giloy Help Fight Coronavirus?|7 Amazing Benefits of Giloy

Giloy juice is an excellent immunity boosting drink made from Giloy and packed with immunity-boosting nutrients. Also known as ‘Amrita’ or the ‘root of immortality,’ the Giloy plant is an Ayurvedic herb that has been used for thousands of years in India for treating a variety of diseases. From treating chronic fever to boosting your immunity against COVID-19, Giloy juice is indeed hailed as being a marvel medicine. Let’s take a look at the benefits of Giloy juice and how it can help boost your immunity to fight against the novel coronavirus.

What is Giloy?

Giloy is commonly also known as Guduchi, and the scientific name of the plant is Tinospora Cordifolia. The stem of the Giloy plant is considered to be highly beneficial due to its high nutritional content. The roots and leaves of the plant are also effective against many conditions because of the various alkaloids found in them. In fact, according to the Charak Samhita, which is the leading Sanskrit text on Ayurveda or traditional Indian medicine, Giloy is one of the main herbs with a bitter taste that is used to treat a variety of disorders.1

Giloy can either be consumed in powder form, or you can boil it and make it into a soup. You can also make Giloy juice and have a glass of this nutritious beverage first thing in the morning. Giloy juice is rich in antioxidants, which is what helps this herb enhance your immunity and prevent the onset of many common infections, including COVID-19. In recent times since the pandemic has taken over the world, Giloy juice has emerged as a popular alternative medicine to increase your immunity, and people all over India are diligently taking supplements or products that are made from Giloy.2

Can Taking Giloy Help Fight Viral Infections?

Can Taking Giloy Help Fight Viral Infections?

Giloy helps improve your immunity, and it is also very useful in fighting against viral fevers, such as the one caused due to the novel coronavirus. Even though there is no evidence to show that Giloy juice can cure coronavirus infection, but it will definitely increase your immunity to fight off the virus. It is best to take Giloy juice regularly, at least two times a day for at least six to seven weeks.

7 Amazing Benefits of Giloy

Enhances Immunity

Giloy is one of the most potent herbs there is for enhancing your immunity. The herb is a powerhouse of antioxidants, which help fight against free radicals in the body. These antioxidants also keep your cells healthy and prevent many diseases.3

Giloy is also a powerful detoxifier and helps remove toxins from the blood. It also helps fight against bacteria that cause disease while also preventing urinary tract infection and many types of liver diseases. Giloy is often used by medical experts for treating heart-related problems and is also useful in treating infertility.4

Giloy increases the activity of macrophages in the blood, which are cells responsible for fighting against any type of foreign bodies and microorganisms, thus keeping the body safe.

Giloy Helps Treat Recurrent and Chronic Fevers

Being anti-pyretic in nature, Giloy helps you avoid chronic fevers. Giloy is especially helpful in chronic and recurrent fevers. The herb has anti-inflammatory properties, which help boost your immunity to fight off infections and also cuts down your recovery time.5

Giloy is known to help bring down temperatures and reduce the symptoms of conditions like dengue, malaria and swine flu.

In people with dengue, Giloy helps increase the platelet count while also reducing the chances of developing any serious complications from dengue fever. Regular intake of Giloy will also help improve your immunity during dengue and help with the weakness, and fatigue people tend to experience after recovering from dengue. To increase platelet count faster, it is recommended to add a few Tulsi or Basil leaves and boil it together with Giloy juice.6

Giloy Juice Helps Improve Digestion

The herb Giloy is very useful in improving digestion and also for the treatment of bowel-related conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It is helpful in treating problems like vomiting, hyperacidity, diarrhea, constipation, and colitis.7

For gastrointestinal-related problems, taking half a teaspoon of Giloy powder in a glass of lukewarm water two times a day is known to help.

Giloy can also help treat liver damage or liver injury due to an overdose of alcohol. The herb helps lower total cholesterol levels in the liver and also boosts the level of antioxidant enzymes as well as oxidative stress markers that help in enhancing overall liver function.8

To maximize results for digestive issues, try mixing half a gram of Giloy powder or one teaspoon of Giloy juice with some amla (India gooseberry) powder. Mixing Giloy juice with some jaggery can help in the treatment of constipation.9

Treating Diabetes

Giloy is an excellent hypoglycemic agent that is useful in the treatment of diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes. Giloy juice can help bring down high levels of blood sugar and is known to work wonders for diabetics.

In Ayurveda, Giloy is referred to as a ‘madhunashini,’ which means ‘destroyer of sugar.’ Giloy increases the production of insulin, thus helping in the management of blood sugar levels. Giloy is also useful for managing complications of diabetes, such as kidney problems, wounds, and ulcers.

It is believed that because Giloy improves digestion and absorption, it, in turn, helps control high blood sugar levels. For managing diabetes with Giloy, try taking one teaspoon of Giloy juice twice a day after lunch and dinner.10

Helps in Respiratory Conditions

Giloy is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, which helps reduce respiratory conditions like tonsillitis, frequent colds and cough, bronchitis, and even asthma.

People with asthma commonly experience symptoms like tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, and other similar symptoms that make it very difficult to breathe. Drinking Giloy juice or chewing on Giloy root can help people with asthma get relief from their symptoms.11

The anti-inflammatory properties of Giloy help inhibit the response of various pro-inflammatory agents in the body. Giloy reduces the inflammation of the air passages, thus giving relief from asthma and chronic cough. Giloy extract can also help bring down the mucus hypersecretion in asthma, which is caused by an increase in the number of goblet cells in the body. These are cells that secrete mucus.12

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Giloy juice is an adaptogenic herb. Adaptogenic herbs help manage the stress hormones in the body. This means that it helps reduce mental stress and anxiety. It helps boost your memory and cognitive functions (especially in older adults), calms down your body, gets rid of toxins from the bloodstream, and is an excellent all-around health tonic.

Giloy works by suppressing the over-activation of the sympathetic nervous system of the body, thus decreasing anxiety levels and mental stress. At the same time, it also exerts a calming effect on your mind and body.

To help reduce stress and anxiety, take two to three teaspoons of Giloy juice, mix it in the same quantity of water and drink it on an empty stomach in the morning. Having it just once a day regularly for five to six weeks will help reduce stress and anxiety.13

Giloy Can Help In Arthritis

Giloy juice can be useful in the management of arthritis symptoms. The herb not only reduces inflammation in the joints caused by arthritis, but it also inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that promote inflammation in the body. Giloy also stimulates the growth of osteoblasts in the body, which are cells that help in the formation of bones. This helps bone formation and also prevents damage caused to the bones and cartilage in arthritis.

However, Giloy is not recommended if you have rheumatoid arthritis. Since Giloy boosts the immune system, and rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, it is not recommended that you take any product of Giloy if you have an autoimmune disease. It is always better to consult your doctor before taking Giloy juice or supplements of Giloy if you have rheumatoid arthritis.14

How to Make an Immunity Boosting Drink with Giloy Juice?

If you want to boost your immunity to fight off the novel coronavirus, it is recommended to add a few more ingredients to Giloy juice to maximize the results. Here are the ingredients you should have to make this immunity-boosting drink:

  • 8-10 Tulsi (Basil) leaves
  • 4-5 peppercorns
  • Four cloves of garlic (minced)
  • Half an inch of ginger (grated)
  • One tablespoon fennel seeds
  • One tablespoon fenugreek seeds

Boil all these ingredients in half a cup of water for a couple of minutes. This concoction should give you around two to three glasses, but you can increase the ingredient portions accordingly if you want to make a larger quantity.

Now to make one glass of an excellent immunity-boosting drink, add half a tablespoon of this concoction to one glass of Giloy juice. Mix everything well and drink twice a day regularly to boost your immune system.

If you don’t like the taste, you can add a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice or one teaspoon of honey.

Basil, like Giloy, is also known to boost your immunity, and it also protects the body from bacteria, viruses, fungi, and many other microorganisms. This is an excellent remedy for breathing problems as well, which makes it all the more necessary to add in any immunity-boosting drink to fight against the novel coronavirus.

References:

  1. Samhita, C., 2001. Charaka Samhita. Vimana Sthana. 8th, p.14.
  2. Sarangi, M.K. and Soni, S., 2013. A Review on Giloy: The Magic Herb. Inventi Rapid: Planta Activa.
  3. Saha, S. and Ghosh, S., 2012. Tinospora cordifolia: One plant, many roles. Ancient science of life, 31(4), p.151.
  4. Sharma, S., IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF MEDICINAL PLANT GILOY.
  5. Devi, G., 2020. MEDICINAL PLANT: GILOY.
  6. Unissa, R., Jyothirmayi, B., Mounica, A., Tejaswini, L., Latha, G.A., Nishitha, G. and Swati, C., 2018. Dengue. Asian Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Science, 8(4), pp.192-202.
  7. Singh, P.K., Singh, D. and Nainwal, R.C., 2019. Giloy-Amrit for life. अनुसंधान विज्ञान शोध पत्रिका, 7(01), pp.160-162.
  8. Singh, S., Maan, N.S., Raana, V. and Sheoran, N., 2018. Effect of dietary inclusion of Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia) stem powder on growth performance and metabolizability in broilers. J. Entomol. Zool. Stud, 6, pp.36-40.
  9. Sethi, D., 2004. Health Drinks: Ayurvedic Concept.
  10. Stanely, P., Prince, M. and Menon, V.P., 2000. Hypoglycaemic and other related actions of Tinospora cordifolia roots in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 70(1), pp.9-15.
  11. Kale, R.N., Patil, R.N. and Patil, R.Y., 2010. Asthma and herbal drugs. Pathophysiology, 20, p.4.
  12. Tiwari, M., Dwivedi, U.N. and Kakkar, P., 2014. Tinospora cordifolia extract modulates COX-2, iNOS, ICAM-1, pro-inflammatory cytokines and redox status in murine model of asthma. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 153(2), pp.326-337.
  13. Mishra, R., Manchanda, S., Gupta, M., Kaur, T., Saini, V., Sharma, A. and Kaur, G., 2016. Tinospora cordifolia ameliorates anxiety-like behavior and improves cognitive functions in acute sleep deprived rats. Scientific reports, 6, p.25564.
  14. Paval, J., Kaitheri, S.K., Govindan, S., Mohammed, C.A., Kumar, R.S., Narayanan, S.N. and Maloor, P.A., 2011. Anti-arthritic activity of the plant Tinospora cordifolia Willd. Journal of Herbal Medicine and Toxicology, 5(1), pp.11-16.
Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:March 13, 2021

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