Linking 'Giloy' to liver damage by study is misleading: AYUSH Ministry

The Ministry of AYUSH has rejected a study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology, a peer reviewed journal of the Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver.

This study mentions that use of the herb Tinospora Cordifolia (TC), commonly known as 'Giloy' or 'Guduchi', resulted in liver failure in six patients in Mumbai.

The ministry said "the authors of the study failed in placing all needful details of the cases in a systematic format. Apart from this, relating Giloy or TC to liver damage would be misleading and disastrous to the traditional medicine system of India as Guduchi or Giloy has been used in Ayurveda since long. The efficacy of TC in managing various disorders is well established."

"It becomes the responsibility of the authors to ascertain that the herb consumed by the patients is TC and not any other herb. To build upon the soundness, the authors would have taken the opinion of a botanist or would have consulted an Ayurveda expert.

"In fact, there are many studies that point out that not identifying the herb correctly could lead to wrong results. A similar looking herb TinosporoCrispa might have a negative effect on the liver. So, before labelling a 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 ministry said.

Publications based on "incomplete information" will open the door for misinformation and defame the age-old practices of Ayurveda, the ministry said.

"It would not be out of context to state here that scientific evidence on medical applications of TC or Giloy as protective to liver, nerves etc. is available," it said.

"There are other hundreds of studies on Giloy and its safe use. Giloy is one of the most commonly prescribed medicines in Ayurveda. It has proper pharmacopoeia standards in place for established safety of hepatoprotective properties. No adverse event is noted in any clinical practice by pharmacovigilance or in any clinical study," it said.