Guduchi Powder: Benefits, Side Effects, How To Consume Guduchi Powder?

Guduchi is a medicinal shrub commonly found in India. This herb is widely used in many Ayurvedic medicines for thousands of years. Guduchi is also known as Giloy, Tinospora cordifolia, Amritavalli (Nectar of Life in Sanskrit), and Heart-leaved Moonseed.¹ The plant’s roots, leaves, and stem are all used to make medicine. The heart-shaped leaves of the plant, along with its stem, contain the highly powerful medicinal ingredients. Guduchi is an inexpensive herb and can be found online and in many pharmacies or grocery stores.

This climbing shrub is highly valued because of its immune-boosting, revitalizing, and many other beneficial properties.² Many people commonly use Guduchi while making tea. You only need to take one teaspoon of the dried stem of Guduchi, 4 to 5 cumin seeds, and a couple of peppercorns and boil them in water. After steeping for 15 to 20 minutes, you should drink this tea at least three to four times a day to get the benefits of the herb.

Guduchi is well-known in Ayurveda for its detoxifying properties, role in helping liver problems, treating respiratory diseases, and several other benefits.³ Here are some of the many benefits of Guduchi powder and the scientific evidence to show whether it works or not.

You will be surprised to know that there are many scientific studies that support the benefits of Guduchi powder, especially its ability to boost the immune system.

In the past, traditional Ayurvedic practitioners have used Guduchi powder for the following purposes:

• Preventing cold, cough, and flu.
• To boost the immune system.
• To alleviate allergies.
• To provide relief from the symptoms of hay fever.
• To treat chronic skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
• To alleviate gout, arthritis, inflammatory conditions, and rheumatic disorders.
• To speed up recovery from conditions like jaundice and hepatitis as Guduchi helps protect the liver from exposure to many toxins.
• To reduce the severity of the side effects of chemotherapy drugs.⁴

Guduchi power works as a potent detoxifying agent in the body. It helps remove toxic chemicals from the blood and liver. Due to the powerful antioxidant properties of

Guduchi, the herb is commonly used in many health supplements for its ability to support the immune system and the liver.

Here are the known benefits of Guduchi powder.

Being a potent detoxifying agent, Guduchi powder helps eliminate toxic chemicals present in the bloodstream and the liver. The liver is a vital organ that is responsible for various enzymatic processes in the body. It also produces energy for the body. This is why we must take care of our liver. Guduchi powder can help in keeping the liver functioning properly. Guduchi powder can help prevent fatty liver disease, cirrhosis of the liver, and even hepatitis.^5,6 One of the most important benefits of Guduchi is that it can help boost the regeneration of damaged liver tissue.

Since Guduchi power is a detoxifier, it also helps improve your complexion and luster of your skin. People who have skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis can get relief by applying Guduchi oil and Guduchi extract mixed with aromatherapy oils to the affected areas. Guduchi is also used in many Ayurvedic skin lotions and topical ointments to improve skin complexion and even improve the overall health of the skin.⁷

Guduchi powder is also helpful in boosting your metabolism, which in turn gives you more energy, especially if you are trying to lose weight.

Guduchi powder is also a preferred traditional remedy for treating respiratory infections such as chronic cough and bronchitis. The herb soothes the mucus membrane of the respiratory system and makes it useful to fight against respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Guduchi contains berberine, alkaloids, columbine, chasmanthin, tinosporol, tinosporic acid, palmarin, and tinosporon. These are all powerful antioxidants. Antioxidants are substances that help protect the cells of the body against free radicals, which are believed to play a role in cancer, heart disease, and many other diseases. Free radicals are molecules that are produced when the body breaks down food or when you are exposed to radiation or tobacco smoke.

The antioxidants contained in Guduchi help protect the cells from damage caused by free radicals. Research has shown that antioxidants can also help decrease the chances of vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration in older adults.⁸

Since Guduchi is rich in antioxidants, it can also help defend the body against the common cold and the flu during the winter months.

Research has also shown that Guduchi has potent anti-inflammatory properties that can work even better than many anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin. Due to this, the herb can help in rheumatism, arthritis, gout, joint pain, pain, and swelling in any part of the body.⁹

Guduchi has also been found to help in asthma, bronchitis, and many other respiratory conditions owing to its potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
The herb also helps improve a person’s memory and keep the cognitive abilities sharp even in old age.

Guduchi can help people with allergies. It helps provide relief from allergy symptoms like congestion, persistent sneezing, severe runny nose, rashes, etc. In fact, the effectiveness of Guduchi extract was assessed in people with allergic rhinitis in a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Seventy-five participants were randomly given either Guduchi extract or a placebo for a period of eight weeks. It was found that people who took Guduchi extract experienced a significant reduction in all the symptoms of allergic rhinitis much better than the placebo.¹⁰

Guduchi extract has also been found to increase blood circulation in the entire body, especially in the coronary arteries. Being an adaptogen like many other herbs, if Guduchi power is taken at the dosage of 50 milligrams per pound, it can also help with stress and anxiety.

Animal studies have shown that Guduchi powder can help regulate cytokine and growth factor levels in the blood of angiogenesis-induced animals. Angiogenesis is induced by cancerous cells that send out a signal to the cells of the blood vessels, thus stimulating them to grow. The process of inducing angiogenesis is important for the cancerous cells or tumor to grow and spread through the body. The studies with Guduchi have shown that the extract of the herb may be anti-angiogenic, but more research is still needed to confirm this.¹¹

Powdered Guduchi has been found to work well in bringing down temperature in fevers of all kinds, especially fever caused by dengue and malaria. The anti-pyretic capabilities of Guduchi have been demonstrated successfully in animal studies, but human studies are still pending.¹²

Guduchi can also help you manage blood sugar levels and decrease diabetes-induced nerve damage and nerve pain. Studies found that blood glucose levels fell dramatically in people with moderate to severe diabetes. The participants were administered Guduchi extract for three to 15 weeks.¹³

Guduchi has been used for years to help with sexual impotence, vitality, spermatorrhea, and ejaculation problems.

The powerful antioxidant properties of Guduchi have been shown to help prevent and heal DNA damage. It also helps prevent many genetic diseases and also slows down the aging process.

Guduchi is also a potent diuretic, and it helps the body get rid of excess water retention and edema.

So some of the well-known properties of Guduchi include:

• Anti-inflammatory
• Diuretic
• Anti-arthritic
• Anti-ulcer
• Anti-allergic
• Antioxidant
• Anti-pyretic
• Osteo-protective.

Guduchi is typically consumed in its powdered form. However, the leaves of the Guduchi plant can also be boiled and used.

To treat fevers, you can prepare a concoction of Guduchi by first boiling two and a half tablespoon of Guduchi powder in one and a half cups of water on medium heat. Do not cover the pot and keep stirring continuously till only half a cup worth of water is left. You can add 2 to 3 pieces of peppercorn to this water and again mix well.

You can take four to six teaspoons of this Guduchi concoction with one teaspoon of honey for taste, at least once or twice a day before having food. This can be taken for three to four weeks in the case of long-term conditions like jaundice or dengue.

The recommended dosage of Guduchi power is 3 to 6 grams per day divided throughout the day. The standard dosage of Guduchi for enhancing your immunity is one teaspoon of Guduchi powder taken twice daily. Taking Guduchi at the very onset of a cold or the flu, you should take Guduchi for at least a week to fight off any respiratory infection.

While there are no known side effects of Guduchi, some people may find that it causes a burning sensation in the abdomen. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid using Guduchi.

Diabetic patients who are following a treatment plant should be careful while using Guduchi and always consult your doctor before you start using it. At the same time, it is also essential that you keep monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly.

Many medications, such as hypoglycemic and immunosuppressant drugs, can interact with Guduchi. Inform your doctor about any over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and any herbal supplements you are using before you start taking Guduchi. This will help your doctor manage any potential drug interactions.

If Guduchi is taken in the recommended dosage, there are usually no side effects reported. Excess dosage of Guduchi, though, may make you feel a rush of heat in the body. If you experience any difficulty in digestion or experience a burning sensation in the abdomen, then discontinue the use of the herb immediately and let your doctor know. Such type of hypersensitivity is the only known contraindication of Guduchi.

Guduchi is safe for kids above the age of five for one to two weeks but under the supervision of your doctor.

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