Thursday, February 28, 2008

Amalaki

The fruit is acrid, cooling, refrigerant, diuretic and laxative. The dried fruit is useful in hemorrhage, diarrhea and dysentery.

In combination with iron, it is used as a remedy for anemia, jaundice and dyspepsia. Amla fruits are anabolic, anti-bacterial and resistance building. They possess expectorant, cardiotonic, antipyretic, antioxidative, antiviral and anti-emetic activities. They are also used in the treatment of leucorrhea and atherosclerosis.

Latin Names: Emblica officinalis Gaertn. /Phyllanthus emblica Linn. (Euphorbiaceae)
English Names: Indian Gooseberry, Emblic Myrobalan
Sanskrit Names: Amalaki, Dhatriphala
Hindi Names: Amal, Avola

Habitat
The tree is commonly found in the mixed deciduous forests of India ascending to 4,500 ft. in the hills.

Morphology Description (Habit)
E.officinalis is a small or medium-sized deciduous tree with smooth, greenish grey, exfoliating bark. The leaves are feathery with small narrowly oblong, pinnately arranged leaflets. The fruits are depressed, globose, fleshy and obscurely 6-lobed, containing 6 trigonous seeds.


Pharmacology
Aqueous extracts of E. officinalis fruit and ascorbic acid equivalent to that in the fruit extract were fed to albino mice for 7 consecutive days, followed by intraperitoneal injection of Pb(NO3)2 or Al2(SO4)3.18H2O. The ability of the crude fruit extract and ascorbic acid to counteract the toxic effects induced by these metal salts in hepatic and renal tissues of the animals were studied.

Histopathological observations revealed that both the fruit extract and ascorbic acid could prevent the toxic effects induced by both metals, but the extract was more effective than ascorbic acid alone2.

Feeding of Amla to the hypercholesterolemic rabbits for 12 weeks showed a two pronged effect, its feeding increased the lipid mobilization and catabolism and retarded the deposition of lipids in the extrahepatic tissues. Feeding of E. officinalis initially raised the plasma lipids and cholesterol levels but by the end of 12 weeks, their levels were reduced significantly below the levels in the control group. Lipid levels in the liver were also significantly lowered.

Though lipid levels in the aorta increased during this period the increase was much less in Amla fed animals as compared to the control group. The degree of atherosclerosis at the end of 12 weeks of Amla feeding was much lower when compared to the control group3.

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