Healing Role of Guduchi [Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers] and Amalaki (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) Capsules in Premature Aging Due to Stress: A Comparative Open Clinical Trial

Aims: To find out the comparative effects of the capsules prepared from the drugs Guduchi [Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers] and Amalaki (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) in cases of premature aging due to stress.

Study Design: Comparative open clinical trial.

Place and Duration of Study: IPD and OPD of National Institute of Ayurveda and Seth Soorajmal Bombawala Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, between June 2016 and April 2017.

Methodology: We included 30 patients (14 men, 16 women; age range 25-60 years) with premature aging due to stress, without any other acute or serious systemic disorders. They were randomly divided in three groups with 10 patients in each. Group A- was treated with capsule of Guduchi 1 gm/day, Group B–capsule of Amalaki 1 gm/day and Group C- was treated with 500mg capsules of Guduchi and Amalaki separately once daily for 3 months. Visual Analogue Scale and Stress were assessed by Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS). Objective parameters like CBC, CRP, FBS, Blood Urea, creatinine, SGOT, SGPT and Serum cholesterol were also analysed.

Results: Marked effect of therapy was observed in group C, where the significant changes (p<0.05) were observed on subjective parameters like Dizziness, Constipation, Aching Muscles, Sleep abnormality, Loss of appetite, Fatigue, Generalized Weakness. In HARS scale significant changes (p<0.01) were found on Anxious Mood and Intellectual power, along with on Tension, Fears, Insomnia, Depressed Mood and Gastrointestinal Symptoms statistically significant (p<0.05) changes were also observed. Similarly on objective parameters like Hb%, Eosinophils and TPLC, significant effect (p<0.05) of therapy was observed. Along with these marked significant (p<0.01) effect was observed in improvement of Neutrophil, Lymphocyte, TRBC, TPLC and PCV. But In ANOVA Test for Intergroup Comparison no significant changes (p>0.05) were found except on the parameters like abnormality in sleep, FBS and TLC where p value was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Both the test drugs, stem of Guduchi and dried fruit rinds of Amalaki were found to be significantly effective in premature ageing due to stress, but the effect was quantitatively better in Group C (Guduchi and Amalaki). However these findings need further validation in large scale study.