Asian countries, especially India, are known for their rich cultural and medicinal heritage. The country practically developed herbal medicines that could cure people much better in ancient times than modern allopathic medicines.
With Indian households using various herbs and spices to enhance the taste buds through delicious food and shape good health collectively, the people have certain fruits that are the best home remedies for so many diseases that could even surpass medication treatment.
One of the many superfoods from India is Indian Gooseberry or us Indians call it Amla. Indian Gooseberry has been considered as one of the best fruit for many health conditions since way back. The fruit is used to eat and is added to many herbal medications and hair care products.
Indian Gooseberry or Amla is a small tree fruit that has yellow and green color flowers. When mature, these flowers bloom into this fruit, which is similar to the flowers. The fruit is a small golf ball-sized and round-shaped structure with a pit inside containing a dark-colored seed and a peel-off skin surface surrounding the fruit’s outer. It is bitter, sour, or astringent in taste.
Indian Gooseberry usually is available in the form of supplements from the fruit powder or dried fruit in the market. There are also sweeteners too made out of this raw fruit and used for making pickles as well. Below are some of the potential benefits of eating Indian Gooseberry fruit daily.
Benefits of Indian Gooseberry
Some of the researches and studies have brought out certain benefits of eating Indian Gooseberry, which involves:
Good For Cancer Prevention
There have been test tube researches to analyze whether Indian Gooseberry extract could kill cancer cells. It was then evident that Amla extracts could kill a few cancer cells, such as ovarian, breast, cervical, and lung cancers.
Experts have said that the antioxidants and flavonoids in Indian Gooseberry make it the right choice for preventing cell mutation from causing tumor growth in the body. Hence, the fruit enriched with vitamin c and various antioxidants should be considered for preventing cancer.
There needs to be a proper clinical trial conducted for knowing whether Indian Gooseberry is as useful for preventing cancer as it is known for it.
Good for Heartburn
On a group of 68 people with GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), research was conducted in which these people with consistent heartburn every day were given amla fruit tablets. After four weeks of regularly 1000 mg Amla fruit tablets, the researchers saw significant improvement in these people.
GERD symptoms have significantly reduced compared to the group which was given a placebo for treating GERD. But there is more study to confidently state that amla would be the right solution for treating GERD.
Good For Anti-Aging and Heart Health
There are many significant benefits of Indian Gooseberry with concern to anti-aging and heart health. Due to its antioxidant properties and enriched with Vitamin C, Amla fruit becomes a good source of skin care food.
Indian Gooseberry could help prevent the collagen in your skin from breaking down, making the skin’s protein matrix and soft tissue flexible. Amla is also proved to be an excellent herbal treatment for haircare, inhibiting the enzyme that is responsible for hair loss. The other skin and anti-aging benefits of Indian Gooseberry involve the prevention of vision loss.
The consumption of amla every day could help individual prevention from age-related macular degeneration where amla fruit improves the eye cells’ mitochondrial health. In heart health, not just one but Indian Gooseberry plays many roles in preventing heart diseases in people.
Consuming Indian Gooseberry could help protect against oxidative damage caused due to any heart injury as the fruit has antioxidants in it. The fruit acts as a natural vasodilator widening the blood vessels, which leads to managing high blood pressure levels.
The other way an amla fruit could help reduce the chances of heart disease is by acting as an anti-platelet agent where it helps prevent the chances of blood clots that generally lead to a stroke or cardiac arrest. It could also help in lessening inflammation, further aiding in preventing heart disease.
A Good Immune Boosting Agent
Being a good source of Vitamin C makes Indian Gooseberry an essential agent for making your immune healthy. Vitamin C helps the immune system protect the body from Chronic Inflammation and the diseases that occur from it.
The antioxidants and vitamin C work in the system’s favor by protecting any cellular damage and lessening severe inflammation, which begins with a short term inflammation as part of the immune system’s response but becomes a prolonged condition.
Indian Gooseberry helps our immune system develop antibodies that could protect the system from invaders or viruses that are majorly perceived threat. The anti-inflammatory properties of Indian Gooseberry also reduce the chances of liver damage that could occur due to a person’s consistent high-fat diet., although no research has been conducted to support this claim.
Maintaining Blood Sugar Levels
A small study was conducted on 32 people where they were given about 1-3 grams of Indian Gooseberry powder for 21 days. The study’s conclusion showed that the fruit powder reduced fasting blood sugar and post-meal blood sugar.
The study showed that amla could be a beneficial fruit for people with type 2 diabetes, helping them manage their blood sugar levels.
The Conclusion
There could be certain demerits of Indian Gooseberry, too, considering its anti-platelet effect, which could cause the blood to become thin and reduce blood clots’ chances. People who are into anticoagulation therapy or medication should avoid this fruit as it could be majorly harmful.
A source has also advised that it is best to avoid this fruit even in the case before going to the surgery as it would lead to a scenario of heavy bleeding. It is best to meet a health expert before considering to take this fruit in a tea as a powder or eating it raw.
In case you are suffering from any blood sugar managing condition, it is best to get an expert’s opinion about whether you should consider eating an amla or not. Also, due to the lack of concrete evidence, it is best to avoid this fruit if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
The product is available in the market if you stay in India; you can move to buy it online for others. It is available in the fruit -powder-filled capsules or sugar syrup pickles of this fruit.
You can eat it raw as well, but it might not be very fancy eating the fruit due to its bitterness or sour taste. Do not try to consume it based on your understanding of dosage. It is best to ask your doctor about how much would be sufficient based on your health condition.
