Health benefits of Amla (Indian Gooseberry)

Everyone is familiar with amla or the Indian gooseberry, it is used in a variety of products like sweets, jams, powder, pickles, while some simply like to pluck and eat them.

But are the health benefits of amla overrated? Along with Dr. Jaishree Bhattacharjee, Ayurvedic consultant with Satvikshop, we explore this popular Indian fruit.

Amla is known as a good source of vitamin C, but is that all? What are the other health benefits of the Indian gooseberry? Dr. Jaishree gives us a detailed list, "Amla has loads of benefits. It is a super food of Ayurveda due to its antioxidant property. It has beneficial effects on almost all the systems and organs of body."

 She explains:

-It controls blood sugar in diabetes

-Lowers cholesterol level

-It is a natural anti ageing agent for skin; nourishes scalp and hair roots and encourages hair growth

-It improves digestion and alleviates constipation

-It improves blood circulation

-It ensures proper functioning of liver.

-It is a strong immunomodulator and protects from the onset of many diseases if taken regularly

-Amla is a good hematinic as it raises hemoglobin level

She also goes on to list out other sources of vitamin C, "There are many good sources of vitamin C beside amla:

-All leafy vegetables like palak, bathua etc.

-All kind of peppers have loads of vit-c

-Fruits like mangoes, pine apple, oranges, kiwi, strawberry, berries, papaya,

-Vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli, red cabbage, etc

-Herbs like basil, mint, coriander, rosemary"

You can get these health benefits by including amla and the other vitamin C rich foods in your diet. On the other hand, if fresh produce is a problem, you can invest in some organic amla products.

Chewing betel leaf may help fight cancer

Chewing 'paan' or betel leaf could help fight a form of bone marrow cancer, a group of Indian researchers say.

A molecule derived from betel leaf may be beneficial to patients suffering from a cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells and the body refuses to respond to common drugs, said a study by scientists in Kolkata and Mumbai.

An alcoholic extract of the betel leaves helps patients suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) -- the most common form of leukaemia in adults in India -- holding out hope of improved treatment.


The research was carried out by the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), the Institute of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine, Kolkata, and Piramal Life Sciences, Mumbai.

"We have conducted a study and seen that the compound hydroxychavicol (HCH) is the major component of the alcoholic extract of the betel leaves and it might contribute, at least in part, to the observed anti-CML activity of the leaf extract," Santu Bandyopadhyay of the department of Cancer Biology and Inflammatory Disorders at IICB, an institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, told us.


The research was based on a 2011 report in journal Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition).

According to the study, published this year in the Cancer Science journal - the official journal of the Japanese Cancer Association - HCH and its analogues not only induced killing of the cancerous CML cells but also led to the death of the drug-resistant cancer cells with minimal harm to normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).

PBMC are blood cells that are an important component of the immune system.

CML is principally an adult disease with a yearly incidence of one in 100,000 in India. Men are affected more often than women. The slow-progressing blood and bone marrow disease usually occurs during or after the middle age, and rarely occurs in children.

The leukaemia cells can build up in the blood and bone marrow. So there is less room for healthy white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. When this happens, infection, anaemia or easy bleeding may occur.

So far, the drug imatinib has been used successfully to treat CML, but mutations have made the leukaemic cells unresponsive to the medicine.

None of the available approved drugs has been effective in dodging the responsible mutation - called T315I.

According to the report in Frontiers in Bioscience (Elite Edition), the alcoholic extract of paan leaves causes the imatinib-resistant cells to undergo a self-destructive process called apoptosis.

The extract also shows activity against T315I mutation, the report said.