Giloy is an important medicinal herb belongs to Menispermaceae family. It has been traditionally used in Ayurveda. It is packed with various important nutrients, glycosides, alkaloids and polyphenols, which offer numerous health benefits. Its root, stream and leaves are widely used for various medicinal purposes.

Biological activity

Antioxidant activity

• Polyphenols and flavonoid components of giloy exert potent antioxidant activities that help in protecting the body from oxidative damages
• It also acts as free radical scavengers, which ultimately help in neutralizing free radicals and reduces oxidative stress thus plays significant role in decreasing the susceptibility of developing chronic diseases
• It helps to prevent lipid peroxidation as well
• It helps to protect various important biological substances of the body from free radical induced oxidative damages thus helps in promoting their health as well as activity

• It helps to prevent cellular damages as well, which ultimately helps in keeping the cell healthy

Anti-inflammatory activity

• It plays significant role in decreasing the prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases by exerting powerful anti-inflammatory activity
• Its consumption is related with delaying the onset of inflammatory events as it helps in reducing the concentration of inflammatory markers like cytokines and tumor necrosis factor-α within body, which ultimately helps to prevent inflammation

• It is also very useful for improving the symptoms of arthritis as it helps in preventing joint swelling and also reduces joint pain

Anti-carcinogenic activity

• It contains various imperative plant components that exert anti-carcinogenic activity
• Its oxidative stress reducing capacity is also considered as an important feature responsible for decreasing the prevalence of cancers
• It is closely associated with inducing apoptosis, which ultimately helps to hinder the growth of malignant cells and helps to destroy them also

Neuro-protective activity

• Giloy plays vital role in modulating the activity of antioxidant enzyme system of brain tissue and helps to protect them from damages as a result reduces the prevalence of neurological disorders
• It is also associated with preserving dopaminergic neurons
• It helps to increase the synthesis of acetylcholine neurotransmitter, which ultimately helps in enhancing cognition, memory and learning skills

Antimicrobial activity

• It helps to fight against disease causing microbes and all the credit goes to its antimicrobial property
• It is extremely useful for lowering the susceptibility of developing infectious diseases

Hypolipidemic activity

• It helps in decreasing total body fat percentages of the body by exhibiting hypolipidemic activity
• It plays vital role in modulating lipid metabolism by inhibiting glucuronide as well as cholesterol

Detoxifying activity

• It helps in eliminating toxins from body as a result helps to cleanse the body properly, which ultimately helps in promoting overall wellbeing
• Its detoxifying activity is also associated with purifying blood

Health benefits

Role on immunity

• It is very effective for improving the overall immunity of the body thus its consumption is thought to be extremely helpful for lowering the susceptibility of becoming ill
• It is closely related with boosting up the phagocytic activity of macrophages, which are considered as the first line of defense in our body
• It also helps in promoting the specific (innate) and non specific (adaptive) immunity
• It helps in enhancing antigen specific recall response as well

Role on digestive health

• Individual suffer from indigestion should try giloy as it plays significant role in improving digestion
• It is very effective for preventing constipation as well
• It has been traditionally used for treating various bowel issues like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome etc

• Its consumption is also very useful for decreasing the prevalence of diarrhoea, vomiting, colitis, ulceration and hyperacidity
• It helps in promoting the growth of intestinal flora as well, thus helps in improving gut health
• Moreover its consumption is incredibly helpful for lowering the prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity also protects the entire digestive tract from damages

Role on eye health

• It has been traditionally used as an important therapeutic substance for improving vision
• Its topical application significantly boosts overall eye health and vision clarity

Role on respiratory health

• It has been traditionally used for treating bronchitis
• Its anti-inflammatory activity makes it a super food for preventing asthma. It helps in preventing the inflammation or swelling of the air way thus helps in improving the symptoms of asthma and also helps in making the breathing easy
• It is associated with pacifying the mucous membrane of the respiratory system too thus helps in reducing the prevalence of tonsils, cough and cold

Role on mental health

• It is considered as one of the most important adaptogenic herbs and has been extensively used for reducing mental stress

• It helps to prevent anxiety as well
• It is associated with providing a calmness to the body as a result helps in healthy sleeping too

Role on skeletal health

• Its consumption is very effective for maintaining a healthy skeletal system
• It is associated with stimulating the growth of osteoblasts. On the other hand it helps in improving the mineralization of bone matrix as well thus its consumption is thought to be very effective for making the bone strong and healthy
• It also helps in increasing bone mass as well as bone mineral density, which ultimately decreases the prevalence of bone thinning as a result reduces the susceptibility of bone fractures and osteoporosis

Role on skin

• It helps to make the skin healthy and supple
• Its antioxidant activity is responsible for preventing premature aging
• It also helps to prevent fine line, wrinkle, pimple and dark spots
• It helps to improve skin texture as well
• It helps to reduce the susceptibility of developing dermal infections
• It is closely related with enhancing blood circulation thus its consumption is thought to be very effective for improving skin glow
• Moreover its consumption is extremely useful for providing a flawless skin

Therapeutic uses

It has been widely used for various therapeutic purposes, like –

• It acts as an important hypoglycemic agent thus it has been traditionally used as an imperative remedial action for diabetes mellitus. It plays significant role in stimulating the production of insulin hormone, which subsequently decreases blood sugar concentration. It helps to improve cellular insulin sensitivity in long term, which is also considered as an important feature for managing diabetes
• It has been traditionally used as an important preventive measure for recurrent fever. Its consumption plays significant role in reducing the prevalence of allergic rhinitis, malaria, swine flu, dengue etc
• It helps to prevent gout as well
• It is also very effective for preventing urinary tract infection
• It helps to promote hepatic health too. Its lipid lowering activity plays imperative role in preventing fatty infiltration of liver cells as a result helps in decreasing the risk of developing fatty liver diseases as well as gall stone
• It also helps in inhibiting fat deposition within blood vessels thus helps in preventing atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease, which ultimately helps to keep cardiac problems at bay

How to use Giloy

• It can be consumed in powdered form or can also be consumed in the form of juice
• It can be used in the form of decoction as well

Kumar, N. and Khurana, S.M., 2016. Phytochemical and Pharmacological proper ties of Giloy-A miracle vine Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers ex Hook. F. & Thoms. Medicinal Plants-International Journal of Phytomedicines and Related Industries, 8(4), pp.275-286.

Mehra, R., Chapter-3 Potentials of Functional Food Bioactive Components in Human Health (Doctoral dissertation, College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib).

Promila, S.S. and Devi, P., 2017. Pharmacological potential of Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers ex hook. & Thoms.(Giloy): A review. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 6, pp.1644-1647.

SRIVASTAVA, A.K. and SINGH, V.K., 2021. Tinospora cordifolia (GILOY): A MAGICAL SHRUB. Asian Journal of Advances in Medical Science, pp.22-30.

Srivastava, P., 2020. Study of medicinal properties of Herb Tinospora Cordifolia (Giloy) in preventing various diseases/abnormalities by increasing immunity naturally in human bodies. Int. J. Eng. Res. and Gen. Sci, 8(4), pp.10-14.