Ayush Ministry dismisses study linking Giloy herb to liver disease; says 'It's misleading'

The Ministry of Ayush has taken notice of a media storey based on a study published in the Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver's Magazine of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology, a peer-reviewed journal. 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 incidents in a methodical manner. Apart from that, linking Giloy or TC to liver damage would be inaccurate and harmful to India's Traditional Medicine system, as the herb Guduchi or Giloy has long been utilised in Ayurveda.

In fact, numerous studies have shown that incorrectly identifying the plant can lead to incorrect outcomes. TinosporoCrispa, a similar-looking herb, may be harmful to the liver. As a result, before labelling a herb with such a poisonous nature as Giloy, the authors should have attempted to correctly identify the plants using conventional procedures, which they did not.

Aside from that, the study had other shortcomings. It's unknown what dosage the patients received or if they combined this plant with other medications. The study did not take into account the patients' previous or current medical records.

Misinformation will spread as a result of publications based on insufficient information, and Ayurveda's age-old practises will be tarnished.

Benefits of Giloy

It would not be out of place 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. Hundreds of other research have been conducted on Giloy and its safe use. Giloy is one of Ayurveda's most regularly given medications.

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

The newspaper article based its entire tale on a very restricted and misleading study, ignoring the numerous peer-reviewed, strong studies that support T.Cordifolia's efficacy, and without contacting any reputable Ayurveda expert or the Ministry of Ayush. From a journalistic standpoint, this is also not up to the mark.