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Ayurveda

GuduchiTinospora cordifolia

Ayurveda’s immunity vine (giloy): a 13-center Indian series of 43 patients linked it to liver injury, judged probable in 67.4%; gut trials are absent.

Botanical name
Tinospora cordifolia
Part used
stem
Also called
Sanskrit Guduchi, Amrita; Hindi Giloy, Gurcha; Giloe, Heart-leaved moonseed
Used in
Ayurveda
Taken for
Liver and bile, Loose stools and diarrhea, Appetite
Sold as
stem powder (churna), fresh juice, decoction, capsules, tablet (ghana vati), extract

The plant

Guduchi is the stem of Tinospora cordifolia, a climbing vine with heart-shaped leaves that grows across India. Its common Hindi name is giloy, and The Sanskrit name amrita is attributed to its reputed ability to impart youthfulness and longevity. The stem is the part used. It is sold as a fresh juice, a dried stem powder (churna), a decoction, capsules and tablets, a compressed dried extract (ghana vati) and a starch-rich extract.

In India the herb became widely taken as an immunity booster during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that period produced both a large open-label prevention study and a series of liver injury reports. The vine is easy to confuse with a related species, Tinospora crispa, a point that mattered in the liver case debate. This entry covers the gut and liver uses; the immune research has little to say about digestion.

How the traditions use it

Ayurveda (about Ayurveda)

A pharmacology review that tabulates the classical properties gives guduchi’s taste as bitter and astringent, its qualities as heavy and unctuous (and, in some listings, also light), its potency as hot and its post-digestive effect (vipaka) as sweet. The Bhavaprakasha Nighantu calls it tridosha shamaka, meaning it is said to calm all three body types. The same review lists claimed uses that include fever, jaundice, loss of appetite, gout, skin disease, diabetes, chronic diarrhea and dysentery. These digestive uses are the tradition’s own claims; the liver injury reports below are modern clinical findings.

What is in it

Chemical studies of the plant report alkaloids (including the protoberberine alkaloids berberine and jatrorrhizine in cell cultures), diterpenoid lactones, glycosides, steroids, phenolics and polysaccharides. The Ayurvedic pharmacology review attributes immune-modulating activity to extracts in lab and animal work. How any of this relates to the liver injury reports is not established; the authors of the case series point to autoimmune features, not a known toxic compound.

What the human trials show

We could not find a controlled human trial of guduchi for a gut or liver outcome. The human trials we found are about immunity and allergy:

Liver safety is where the human data are concentrated. A 2022 retrospective Indian study across 13 centers at nine locations reported 43 patients with herb-induced liver injury temporally linked to giloy. The median time from first consumption to symptom onset was 46 days; presentations included acute hepatitis, acute worsening of chronic liver disease (the most common) and acute liver failure; causality was judged probable in 67.4%; anti-nuclear antibody was the most common autoantibody, and biopsies showed features of autoimmune injury. The authors concluded giloy can cause acute hepatitis with autoimmune features and can unmask silent autoimmune hepatitis. An earlier six-patient series prompted a challenge that the patients had taken a different species, Tinospora crispa; the authors answered with morphology, chemistry and DNA barcoding of four plant samples, which identified T. cordifolia, though two commercial preparations could not be analyzed. Other authors have disputed that the hepatotoxicity reading is correct, so this remains debated.

StudyDoseWhat it found
Retrospective multicenter series, 13 centers in India: giloy-associated herb-induced liver injury PMID 35037744Not standardized (self-reported use)43 patients; median onset 46 days; probable causality in 67.4%; autoimmune features common; can unmask autoimmune hepatitis
Authentication of plant samples and preparations implicated in six liver injury cases PMID 36950495Not applicableFour plant samples confirmed as T. cordifolia, not T. crispa, by morphology, chemistry and DNA barcoding; two commercial products not analyzable
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 75 patients with allergic rhinitis PMID 15619563Extract for 8 weeks (dose not in abstract)Complete relief of sneezing in 83% with guduchi versus no relief in 79% with placebo; well tolerated
Open-label randomized community study, 10,022 completers, Guduchi Ghana Vati as COVID-19 prevention PMID 38784353Ghana Vati for 45 daysCOVID-19 incidence lower, not significant; severity and non-COVID illness episodes significantly lower; no major adverse reactions

How much the studies and the texts used

No gut or liver trial dose exists for guduchi. The allergic rhinitis trial gave an extract for 8 weeks (the abstract does not state the amount), and the COVID prevention study gave a compressed dried-extract tablet (Ghana Vati) for 45 days. In the six-patient liver series, patients had self-medicated with plant stems or leaves and two commercial preparations. Traditionally the stem is used as a juice, powder or decoction. We found no dose-response data.

Doses here describe what studies and pharmacopoeias used. They are not a recommendation for any person; a clinician or pharmacist who knows your medicines and conditions is the right person to ask.

Side effects and cautions

The documented risk is liver injury. In the 43-patient series, causality was probable in 67.4%, and the herb was described as able to unmask autoimmune hepatitis in people with silent liver disease. In the allergic rhinitis trial and the 10,022-person prevention study, the authors reported no serious adverse reactions. Other authors have written that the hepatotoxicity has been misconstrued, so this question is debated in the journals. We found no data on pregnancy, breastfeeding or children.

Separately from the herb itself, a 2008 study of 193 Ayurvedic products sold online found lead, mercury or arsenic in 20.7%, against 40.6% in rasa shastra products, and CDC documented 12 adult lead poisoning cases tied to Ayurvedic remedies across five states in 2000 to 2003. Neither study singled out guduchi.

Interactions

We found no formal interaction studies for guduchi. The liver injury series found it can unmask autoimmune hepatitis, so people with autoimmune conditions and those taking immunosuppressant medicines are the groups the reports raise concern about; this is an inference from the case series, not a tested interaction. A review lists diabetes among the traditional uses, so an additive effect with glucose-lowering medicines is a question; we found no controlled data.

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Often paired or compared

Ayurvedic Neem Azadirachta indica Ayurvedic Ashwagandha Withania somnifera Ayurvedic Tulsi Ocimum tenuiflorum (also written Ocimum sanctum) Ayurvedic Kutki Picrorhiza kurroa

The questions that come up

What is giloy?

Giloy is the Hindi name for guduchi, the stem of Tinospora cordifolia. In Sanskrit it is called amrita. It became a popular immunity herb in India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does guduchi cause liver injury?

A 2022 retrospective study of 43 patients across 13 Indian centers linked giloy use to herb-induced liver injury, with causality judged probable in 67.4%. Other authors dispute the causal reading, so it is debated, but it is the main safety signal in the literature.

Is guduchi good for digestion?

Ayurvedic reviews list chronic diarrhea, dysentery and loss of appetite among its traditional uses, and the Ayurvedic description makes it hot in potency and sweet after digestion. We could not find a controlled human trial for a gut outcome.

What did the immunity trial find?

In a 10,022-person community study of Guduchi Ghana Vati for 45 days, COVID-19 incidence was lower but not significantly so; severity and non-COVID illness episodes were significantly lower. It was open label with an untreated control.

Is Tinospora cordifolia the same as Tinospora crispa?

No, they are different species that look alike, which became a point of debate in the liver injury reports. Plant samples from the six-patient series were identified as T. cordifolia by morphology and DNA barcoding.

Sources