I've used Triphala with Rose for 10 years, and it really helps to keep my elimination regular without any side effects
AS - Lancashire
I've used Triphala with Rose for 10 years, and it really helps to keep my elimination regular without any side effects
AS - Lancashire
Amla or Amalaki (Emblica officinalis) fruit is a highly renowned for its many health-giving properties in India, South East Asia and China. The fruits are widely consumed raw, cooked or pickled and it is used in many Ayurvedic food supplements. In Ayurveda the health promoting value of the fruit is increased by preparing it in an elaborate way called ‘swaras bhavana’ which involves the repeated treatment of the dried fruit with its fresh juice up to 21 times.
Charak Samhita says that Amla is “the best among rejuvenative herbs”. Because of its very balanced action it is one of the few Ayurvedic plants that can be very safely used by itself.
In modern science Amla fruit has been renowned for its high vitamin C content and its health properties have been ascribed to this. At one time it was said to be the richest known source of vitamin C in the plant world but some doubts had arisen about this and richer sources have been found.
Vitamin C plays a variety of important roles in the
body for tissue building and manufacture of hormones and energy
transfer. One of the most important of roles is its anti-oxidant
activity in which it mops up or scavenges free radicals. In the last 30
years free radicals have been implicated as the causes of a very wide
variety of illnesses. At the same time in the west the appreciation of
plant foods for their ability to scavenge excess free radicals and
protect from illness has been growing year by year.
Although the free radical scavenging (anti-oxidant) activity of plants is not the full measure of their value it is perhaps the best single general indication of their value that western science has.
Research by Dr Paulo Scartezzini of Bologna University and his colleagues published in 2005 has re-examined the antioxidant value of Amla and to what extent this is due to its Vitamin C content. Dr Scartezzini tested four sources of Amla - dried wild fruits, frozen wild fruits, a preparation of Amla fruit that had been subject to 21 repetitions of swaras bhavana and a commercial extract. The prepared Amla was Maharishi Ayurveda MA390 tablets that are prepared in exactly the same way as the Amlaberry (MA1) food supplement with the full 21 swaras bhavanas.
Dr Scartezzini measured the Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content and the antioxidant activity of all four sources. He found that the frozen fruit had 400mg/100 grams (0.4%) by weight of Vitamin C and the dried fruit 370mg/100g.
This compares with the Vitamin C content of some
other good food sources of vitamin C given in the USDA Nutrient database
in mg/100g: acerola 1680, blackcurrant 155-215, blueberry 1-16, broccoli
90, brussels sprouts 80, cauliflower 40, grapefruit 34, guava 183,
jujube 500, green kiwifruit 98, yellow kiwifruit 120-180, lemon juice
46, lime juice 29, cantaloupe melon 45, cow milk 2, orange 53, papaya
62, red currant 58-81, rosehip 1150-2500, strawberry 57. (These figures
are a guide only because there can be wide variations in vitamin C
content depending on ripeness of the fruit, storage conditions and which
variety is measured).
It is clear that Amla is among the best sources of Vitamin C. The level in the dried fruit is almost as much as in the frozen fruit. This confirms that the vitamin C in Amla is in a very stable form. This stability is due to the presence of tannins that bind with the vitamin C and stop it degrading. This is not the case with most sources of vitamin C.
Dr Scatezzini also found that the vitamin C in the Maharishi Ayurveda Amlaberry preparation was 1280mg/100g – about three times the level in fresh fruit. The level in the commercial extract was 2000 mg/100mg (extraction method not known).
The tannins themselves can be important anti-oxidants and the levels of tannins in the Amla was measured (in gallic acid equivalents) and found to be: frozen fruit 202, dried fruit 207, prepared fruit 255, commercial extract 200. This again indicates the effectiveness of the swaras bhavana preparation.
Dried, prepared and extract of Amla were compared
with pure ascorbic acid. The anti-oxidant value of the MAP Amlaberry was
highest, the commercial extract and the dried fruit were intermediate
and pure ascorbic acid came last. It is thought that the tannins help to
regenerate vitamin C when it gets used up in scavenging free radicals
and that this, at least in part, explains the greater anti-oxidant value
of the Maharishi Ayurveda preparation with its greater amount of
tannins.
Dr Scartezzini showed that between 45-70% of the anti-oxidant activity was due to the Vitamin C content.
This research is useful in tending to confirm the traditional reputation of Amla and the swaras bhavana technique used to prepare it. However we have to remind ourselves that in reality the best measurers of the true value of Amla are the enlightened sages who wrote the ancient Ayurvedic texts and the enlightened Vaidyas whose diagnosis through the pulse is the most delicate and comprehensive measure of health.
The official USA DRI for vitamin C is 60-95 mg/day for adults (UK RDA 40mg/day). This is the amount said to prevent clinical scurvy and provide a body store for 30 days. There is a lively debate on the optimum intake with authoritative recommendations going as high as 18000mg/day particularly during illness, 400mg/day being the US NIH recommendation.
Some studies indicate that 200mg/day are required to maintain tissues at full saturation without excreting excess. Pregnant and nursing mothers probably need more. The US DRI Maximum Tolerable Daily Uptake is set at 2000mg/day for an adult male.
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