Phyllanthus emblica
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [2]
Overview
Phyllanthus emblica, also known as emblic,Phyllanthus emblica, emblic myrobalan'Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla'amalika, is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. It is known for its edible fruit of the same name.
Plant morphology and harvesting
The tree is small to medium in size, reaching 8 to 18 m in height, with a crooked trunk and spreading branches. The branchlets are glabrous or finely pubescent, 10–20 cm long, usually deciduous; the leaves are simple, subsessile and closely set along branchlets, light green, resembling pinnate leaves. The flowers are greenish-yellow. The fruit is nearly spherical, light greenish yellow, quite smooth and hard on appearance, with six vertical stripes or furrows.
Ripening in autumn, the berries are harvested by hand after climbing to upper branches bearing the fruits. The taste of Indian gooseberry is sour, bitter and astringent, and it is quite fibrous. In India, it is common to eat gooseberries steeped in salt water and turmeric to make the sour fruits palatable[citation needed].
Medical research
Indian gooseberry has undergone preliminary research, demonstrating in vitro antiviral and antimicrobial properties.[1] There is preliminary evidence in vitro that its extracts induce apoptosis and modify gene expression in osteoclasts involved in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.[2] It may prove to have potential activity against some cancers.[3] One recent animal study found treatment with E. officinalis reduced severity of acute pancreatitis (induced by L-arginine in rats). It also promoted the spontaneous repair and regeneration process of the pancreas occurring after an acute attack.[4]
Experimental preparations of leaves, bark or fruit have shown potential efficacy against laboratory models of disease, such as for inflammation, cancer, age-related renal disease, and diabetes.[5][6][7]
A human pilot study demonstrated a reduction of blood cholesterol levels in both normal and hypercholesterolemic men with treatment.[8] Another recent study with alloxan-induced diabetic rats given an aqueous amla fruit extract has shown significant decrease of the blood glucose, as well as triglyceridemic levels and an improvement of the liver function caused by a normalization of the liver-specific enzyme alanine transaminase activity.[9]
Chemical research
Although these fruits are reputed to contain high amounts of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), 445 mg/100g,[10] the specific contents are disputed, and the overall antioxidant strength of amla may derive instead from its high density of ellagitannins[11] such as emblicanin A (37%), emblicanin B (33%), punigluconin (12%) and pedunculagin (14%).[12] It also contains punicafolin and phyllanemblinin A, phyllanemblin other polyphenols: flavonoids, kaempferol, ellagic acid and gallic acid.[11][13]
Cultural and religious significance
The tree is considered sacred by Hindus as the Vishnu is believed to dwell here. The tree is worshipped on Amalaka Ekadashi.
In other Hindu myths, Amla is said to have originated from the drops of Amrit which spilled on earth accidentally, due to the fight of Gods and Demons after ksheera sagar manthan. And hence also this religious belief makes claims that it almost cures every disease and is also good in extending the longevity of life.
In the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition half an amalaka fruit was the final gift to the Buddhist sangha by the great Indian emperor Ashoka. This is illustrated in the Ashokavadana in the following verses:
"A great donor, the lord of men, the eminent Maurya Ashoka, has gone from being lord of Jambudvipa [India] to being lord of half a myrobalan." (Strong, 1983, p. 99)[14] This deed became so famous that a stupa was created to mark the place of the event in modern day Patna and was known as the Amalaka stupa.
According to Hindu tradition, Adi Shankara of Kerala composed and recited the Kanakadhara stotram in praise of Mahalakshmi to make a poor Brahmin lady get wealth, in return for a single amla presented to him as bhiksha on an auspicious dwadashi day. Contemporary poet/philosopher Ravi Teja Yelamanchili wrote a book titled Amalaki. The book is based on Advaita Vedanta of Sri Adi Shankaracharya.
According to a Tamil legend, Avvaiyar (Template:Lang-ta), a female poet, ethicist and political activist of the Sangam period was gifted with one amla by King Athiyaman to give her long life.
In Theravada Buddhism, this plant is said to have been used as the tree for achieving enlightenment, or Bodhi by twenty first Lord Buddha called "Pussa - ඵුස්ස".
Traditional uses of amlaki
Medicinal use
In traditional Indian medicine, dried and fresh fruits of the plant are used. All parts of the plant are used in various Ayurvedic/Unani medicine (Jawarish amla) herbal preparations, including the fruit, seed, leaves, root, bark and flowers.[15] According to Ayurveda, amla fruit is sour (amla) and astringent (kashaya) in taste (rasa), with sweet (madhura), bitter (tikta) and pungent (katu) secondary tastes (anurasas).[15] Its qualities (gunas) are light (laghu) and dry (ruksha), the postdigestive effect (vipaka) is sweet (madhura) and its energy (virya) is cooling (shita).[16]
According to Ayurveda, amla balances all three doshas. While amla is unusual in that it contains five out of the six tastes recognized by Ayurveda, it is most important to recognize the effects of the "virya", or potency, and "vipaka", or post-digestive effect. Considered in this light, amla is particularly helpful in reducing pitta due to its cooling energy.[15] It also balances both Pitta and vata by virtue of its sweet taste. The kapha is balanced primarily due to its drying action. It may be used as a rasayana (rejuvenative) to promote longevity, and traditionally to enhance digestion (dipanapachana), treat constipation (anuloma), reduce fever (jvaraghna), purify the blood (raktaprasadana), reduce cough (kasahara), alleviate asthma (svasahara), strengthen the heart (hrdaya), benefit the eyes (chakshushya), stimulate hair growth (romasanjana), enliven the body (jivaniya), and enhance intellect (medhya).[15][16]
In Ayurvedic polyherbal formulations, Indian gooseberry is a common constituent, and most notably is the primary ingredient in an ancient herbal rasayana called Chyawanprash.[11] This formula, which contains 43 herbal ingredients as well as clarified butter, sesame oil, sugar cane juice, and honey, was first mentioned in the Charaka Samhita as a premier rejuvenative compound.[17][18]
In Chinese traditional therapy, this fruit is called yuganzi (余甘子), which is used to treat throat inflammation.[citation needed]
Emblica officinalis tea may ameliorate diabetic neuropathy due to aldose reductase inhibition.[19][20][21][non-primary source needed] In rats it significantly reduced blood glucose, food intake, water intake and urine output in diabetic rats compared with the non‐ diabetic control group.[22]
Culinary use
The Maharashtra state is one of the largest producers and suppliers of Indian Gooseberries. In this region the fruit is commonly pickled with salt, oil, and spices. The amla fruit is eaten raw or cooked into various dishes. In Andhra Pradesh, tender varieties are used to prepare dal (a lentil preparation), and amle ka murabbah, a sweet dish indigenous to the northern part of India made by soaking the berries in sugar syrup until they are candied. It is traditionally consumed after meals.
Other uses
Popularly used in inks, shampoos and hair oils, the high tannin content of Indian gooseberry fruit serves as a mordant for fixing dyes in fabrics.[15] Amla shampoos and hair oil are traditionally believed to nourish the hair and scalp and prevent premature grey hair.[citation needed]
Vernacular names
Names for this plant in various languages include:
Nellikaai (நெல்லிக்காய்) in Tamil
amalika (अमलिक) in Sanskrit
Dhatric (धात्रिक) in Sanskrit, Maithili
āmlā (आमला) in Hindi
āmla (આમળાં) in Gujarati
aavnlaa (amla or awla) in Urdu
āvaḷā (आवळा) (or awla) in Marathi
Bettada nellikaayi ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ನೆಲ್ಲಿಕಾಯಿ (ನೆಲ್ಲಿಕ್ಕಾಯಿ) in Kannada
āvāḷo (आवाळो) in Konkani
Aula (ਔਲਾ) in Punjabi
amloki (আমলকী) in Bengali
amlā (अमला) in Nepali
ambare (अमबरे) in Garo language
amlakhi in Assamese
anlaa (ଅଁଳା) in Oriya
Suaklu in Paite
sunhlu in Mizo
nelli (നെല്ലി) in Malayalam
heikru in Manipuri
halïlaj or ihlïlaj (اهليلج هليلج) in Arabic
sohmylleng in Khasi
rasi usiri ( రాశి ఉసిరి కాయ) (or rasi usirikai ) in Telugu
nellikkai (நெல்லிக்காய்/ ನೆಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಯಿ/ ಗುಡ್ದದ ನೆಲ್ಲಿ)
nellikkaai or nellikaayi in Tamil, Kannada and Tulu
nelli (නෙල්ලි) in Sinhala
mak kham bom in Lao
ma kham pom (มะขามป้อม) in Thai
anmole (庵摩勒) in Chinese
Kantout Prei (កន្ទួតព្រៃ) in Khmer
skyu ru ra (སྐྱུ་རུ་ར་) in Tibetan
melaka in Malay, A state in Malaysia, Malacca was named after this tree.
zee phyu thee (ဆီးၿဖဴသီး) in Myanmar.
balakka in batak language an Indonesia custom
Also found are the variants in spelling aola, ammalaki, aamvala, aawallaa, dharty, nillika, and nellikya.
See also
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- Emblicanin (antioxidant)
- Triphala, an Ayurvedic mixture containing Amla
References
- ↑ Saeed S, Tariq P (Jan 2007). "Antibacterial activities of Emblica officinalis and Coriandrum sativum against Gram negative urinary pathogens". Pak J Pharm Sci. 20 (1): 32–5. PMID 17337425.
- ↑ Template:Cite doi
- ↑ Template:Cite doi
- ↑ PMID 21138365 (PMID 21138365)
Citation will be completed automatically in a few minutes. Jump the queue or expand by hand - ↑ Ganju L, Karan D, Chanda S, Srivastava KK, Sawhney RC, Selvamurthy W (Sep 2003). "Immunomodulatory effects of agents of plant origin". Biomed Pharmacother. 57 (7): 296–300. doi:10.1016/S0753-3322(03)00095-7. PMID 14499177.
- ↑ Yokozawa T, Kim HY, Kim HJ; et al. (Sep 2007). "Amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) attenuates age-related renal dysfunction by oxidative stress". J Agric Food Chem. 55 (19): 7744–52. doi:10.1021/jf072105s. PMID 17715896.
- ↑ Rao TP, Sakaguchi N, Juneja LR, Wada E, Yokozawa T (2005). "Amla (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) extracts reduce oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats". J Med Food. 8 (3): 362–8. doi:10.1089/jmf.2005.8.362. PMID 16176148.
- ↑ Jacob A, Pandey M, Kapoor S, Saroja R (Nov 1988). "Effect of the Indian gooseberry (amla) on serum cholesterol levels in men aged 35-55 years". Eur J Clin Nutr. 42 (11): 939–44. PMID 3250870.
- ↑ Qureshi SA, Asad W, Sultana V (Jan 2009). "The Effect of Phyllantus emblica Linn on Type — II Diabetes, Triglycerides and Liver — Specific Enzyme" (PDF). Pakistan Journal of Nutrition. 8 (2): 125–128. doi:10.3923/pjn.2009.125.128.
- ↑ Tarwadi K, Agte V (Aug 2007). "Antioxidant and micronutrient potential of common fruits available in the Indian subcontinent". Int J Food Sci Nutr. 58 (5): 341–9. doi:10.1080/09637480701243905. PMID 17558726.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Dharmananda S. Emblic Myrobalans: Amla, Institute of Traditional Medicine [1]
- ↑ Template:Cite PMID
- ↑ Habib-ur-Rehman, Yasin KA, Choudhary MA; et al. (Jul 2007). "Studies on the chemical constituents of Phyllanthus emblica". Nat. Prod. Res. 21 (9): 775–81. doi:10.1080/14786410601124664. PMID 17763100.
- ↑ Strong, J. S. (1983) The Legend of King Ashoka, New York: Princeton University Press
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Caldecott T. Amalaki
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 National R&D Facility for Rasayana - Amalaki
- ↑ Samhita C. Ed., translation by the Shree Gulabkunverba Society, Volume 4. Chikitsa Sthana, Jamnagar, India: 1949
- ↑ Indian Ministry of Health and Family Planning. The Ayurvedic Formulary of India. Part I. 1st ed. Delhi, 1978.
- ↑ Mizisin, AP1; Calcutt, NA; DiStefano, PS; Acheson, A; Longo, FM (1997). "Aldose reductase inhibition increases CNTF-like bioactivity and protein in sciatic nerves from galactose-fed and normal rats". Diabetes. 46 (4). PMID 9075806.
- ↑ Suryanarayana, P; Kumar, PA; Saraswat, M; Petrash, JM; Reddy, GB (2004). "Inhibition of aldose reductase by tannoid principles of Emblica officinalis: implications for the prevention of sugar cataract". Molecular Vision. 10. PMID 15031705.
- ↑ Puppala, M; Ponder, J; Suryanarayana, P; Reddy, GB; Petrash, JM; LaBarbera, DV (2012). "The isolation and characterization of β-glucogallin as a novel aldose reductase inhibitor from Emblica officinalis". PLoS One. 7 (4). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031399.
- ↑ Template:Cite doi
Further reading
- Winston, David; Maimes, Steven (2007). Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief. Healing Arts Press. ISBN 1-59477-158-8. Contains a detailed monograph on Emblica officinalis (Amla; Indian gooseberry; Amalaki) as well as a discussion of health benefits.
- Puri, Harsharnjit Singh (2002). "Amalaki (Phyllanthus emblica)". Rasayana: Ayurvedic Herbs for Longevity and Rejuvenation. Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern Times, Vol. 2. Boca Raton: CRC. pp. 22–42. ISBN 0-415-28489-9.
- Caldecott, Todd (2006). Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life. Elsevier/Mosby. ISBN 0-7234-3410-7. Contains a detailed monograph on Phyllanthus emblica (Amla; Indian gooseberry; Amalaki) as well as a discussion of health benefits and usage in clinical practice. Available online at http://www.toddcaldecott.com/index.php/herbs/learning-herbs/397-amalaki
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