The Ministry of Ayush on July 7 refuted the claims made in a study that the use of the herb Tinospora Cordifolia (TC), commonly known as Giloy, resulted in liver failure in six patients in Mumbai.
"The ministry feels that the authors of the study failed in placing all needful details of the cases in a systematic format," the Ayush Ministry said in a statement.
"Apart from this, relating Giloy or TC to liver damage would be misleading and disastrous to the Traditional Medicine system of India as herb Guduchi or Giloy has been used in Ayurveda since long. The efficacy of TC in managing various disorders is well established," the ministry statement said.
The study which was widely reported in the media, was published in Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology, a peer-reviewed journal of the Indian National Association for the study of the liver. It said the researchers have documented the experience of six patients in Mumbai with herbal-induced liver injury from September 2020 to December 2020. They claimed that this was herbal (Giloy) immune booster-induced liver injury during COVID-19 arising from direct and indirect mechanisms through the metabolites of the herb or their interactions with other drugs, including contaminants.
Immunity boosters based on herbal concoctions have become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giloy is one popular Ayurvedic herb that is used as prophylaxis for COVID-19. Companies like Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali, Sri Sri Tattva, among others were marketing herbal concoctions based on Giloy.
Flawed study
The ministry said that after analysing the study, it noticed that the authors of the study have not analysed the contents of the herb that was consumed by the patients.
"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," the Ayush Ministry said.
"In fact, there are many studies that point out that identifying the herb not 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 statement added.
The Ayush Ministry also said it found other flaws in the study such as what dose the patients had taken or whether they took this herb with other medicines. The ministry also complained that the study has not taken into account the past or present medical records of the patients.
"Publications based on incomplete information will open the door for misinformation and defame the age-old practices of Ayurveda," the Ayush Ministry said.
It said that scientific evidence on medical applications of TC or Giloy as protective to liver and nerves are available.
It added that the ‘Guduchiand safety' as keyword alone has some 169 studies available in the public domain.
Similarly, a quick search on T. Cordifolia and efficacy, as keywords, will show 871 results. There are 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 of established safety of hepato-protective properties. No adverse event is noted in any clinical practice by pharmacovigilance or in any clinical study," the ministry said.
The minsitry also said that the media reports didn't take into account the voluminous peer reviewed, robust studies that speak for the efficacy of T.Cordifolia and without consulting any reputed Ayurveda expert or the Ministry of Ayush.