• Lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, while maintaining or improving HDL to LDL ratio.
• It lowers triglyceride levels.
• It relaxes the muscles which helps relieve menstrual pain.
• It acts as a blood detoxifier which breaks up stagnation in the body.

Introduction

Guggul is as important in our life as the google is. Booth of them are pronounced the same. But one is the search engine and other is or body’s engine to make our body in running condition when body is stuck by some kind of ailments. It is one of the most essential or useful herb that is extensively used by ayurvedic doctors and physicians to cure people from there ailments.

Guggul is commonly known as guggulu in Indian subcontinent. It is a plant out which a gum gets excreted which is the part used. This cum or the resin is sticky in appearance as well as texture. It is generally shiny black to dark brown in color having sticky appearance. It was primarily used to make tablets at it has the power to bind various other herbs with it and easily acquires a shape of a tablet known as vati or gutika in ayurveda. But slowly and gradually health benefits of Guggul started appearing and their by it was the being pushed to use. Guggul can be used both singly as well as in compound form.

In classical ayurvedic medicines Guggul is used two ways. Firstly Guggul is used as a medicated herb especially in the diseases caused due to vata vitiation. Secondly it is the herb that is used for binding the other herb constituents making a medicine. Due to its sticky nature it binds the other constituents thereby facilitating the formation of vati or the gutika popularly known as tablet these days.

How does guggul plant looks like?

Guggul is actually a shrub that attains a height of four meters. The branches have a good aroma and are thorny. The park is papery in texture. Leaves of the Guggul plant are sessile, alternate or fascicled. Leaflets are glabrous, ovate and about 1.5 centimeters in length and 0.5 to 2.5 in breath. The plant is dimorphic i.e. having male flower and female flower on different branches. Calyx is fused at the base with the disc. It is 1 to 2 mm long having triangular lobes. Fruit is one cm long, red in color when it is in ripe form having 2 longitudinal white lines. Mesocarp of the fruit is yellow in color and sometimes it is red in color. Epicarp is dehiscing from the base upwards on maturation. In female flowers, sepals 2 mm long, petals 3-4 mm long, 1 mm broad; staminodes 8, alternately short and long, l to 1.5 mm long; ovary and fruit the same as in bisexual flowers.

What are the other names of Guggul?

Below are some of the known names of guggul

What are the benefits of Guggul?

Guugul has thousands of health benefits on our body. Below are the some of benefits that Guggul cast on our body.

- Weight Management
- Lowering Cholesterol
- Improving Circulation
- Relief from Arthritis pain

- Hypothyroidism
- Treating Boils
- Eczema
- Menstrual Pain

- Dermatitis
- Psoriasis
- Skin rashes

Action on hypothyroidism

Arthritis

Ayurveda, the traditional system of healthcare in India , has many remedies for Osteoarthritis (OA). One of the ingredients most commonly found in Ayurvedic arthritis formulas is guggul, an oleoresin of the herb Commiphora mukul. The authors have conducted both preclinical and clinical investigations of guggul for reduction of pain, stiffness, and improved function, and to determine tolerability in older patients with a diagnosis of OA of the knee. Overall data indicate significant improvement with guggul for participants during the trial in both scales and objective measures used for assessment purposes. There were no side effects reported during the trial. Guggul appears to be a relatively safe and effective supplement to reduce symptoms of OA.

Hypolipedimia

There is accumulating evidence that LDL oxidation is essential for atherogenesis, and that antioxidants that prevent this oxidation may either slow down or prevent atherogenesis. In the present study, we found that Commiphora mukul (guggul) and its cholesterol-lowering component, guggulsterone, effectively inhibited LDL oxidation. This inhibition by guggul was assessed by the decrease in the following parameters describing LDL oxidation: conjugated dienes, relative electrophoretic mobility (REM), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, lipid hydroperoxides, oxidation-specific immune epitopes as detected with a monoclonal antibody against oxidized LDL, and the accumulation of LDL derived cholesterol esters in mouse peritoneal macrophages. We concluded that guggul and its lipid-lowering component, guggulsterone, significantly inhibit LDL oxidation. The combination of antioxidant and lipid-lowering properties of guggul and guggulsterone makes them especially beneficial against atherogenesis .

Guggulsterones were comparable to cardioprotective drugs propanolol and nifedipine in protecting from myocardial necrosis induced by isoproterenol in male albino Charles-Foster rats (Chander et al., 2003; Kaul and Kapoor, 1989). Gugulipid ® significantly increased the levels of catecholamine and the activity of dopamine β-hydroxylase in normal rabbits and decreased those in cholesterol-fed rabbits. Additionally, it helped increase catecholamine levels in hypercholesteremic rabbits (Central Drug Research Institute [India] studies [authors and years n.p.]; Devlin, 1997; Marks, 1990; Orten and Neuhaus, 1982; Schumm, 1988; all cited by Sabinsa Corp., 2000; Badmaev and Majeed, 2000). Gugulipid ® increased the levels of norephinephrine, dopamine, and dopamine β-hydroxylase activity in the heart and brain tissues of rhesus monkeys in a dose-dependent manner (Srivastava et al., 1984; cited by Sabinsa Corp., 2000). In lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated murine macrophages J774.1 in vitro, E- and Z-guggulsterones were the most potent inhibitors of nitrix oxide (NO) production, followed by myrrhanol A and myrrhanone A (Meselhy, 2003).

Bioactive constituents from gum guggul (C. wightii), identified as ferulates, showed significant cytotoxicity in vitro, decreasing cell viability in MCF-7 (breast) tumor cells, PC-3 (prostate) tumor cells, and in parental and transfected P388 cells (Zhu et al., 2001, 2002). The ferulates compounds have been used in compounds and methods for prevention and treatment of abnormal cell growth and proliferation of inflammation, neoplasia, and cardiovascular disease (Majeed et al., 2001)

Are their any classical preparations of Guggul?

Guggul is one of the most widely used herb in ayurvedic system of medicine. Below are listed some of the very widely used guggul preparations

· Triphala guggulu – it is preparation of Guggul in which triphala is the main constituent along with Guggul.

· Yogaraja guggulu – one of the most famous ayurvedic classical preparation of Guggul. It very extensively used in relieving from pain and suppressing inflammation in the body.

· Mahayogaraja guggulu

· Candraprabha vati

· Goksuradi guggulu

· Kancanara guggulu

· Amrtadi guggulu

· Laksadi guggulu

· Kaisora guggulu

What are the dosages of Guggul and its various preparations?

With the advent of technology, now days guggul is prepared in many forms as per the requirements. Below are the various forms in which Guggul is used.