Emblica Officinalis by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Emblica Officinalis, or Indian gooseberry, has been traditionally used for many chronic conditions including diabetes. Research has been done with Emblica Officinalis evaluating its role as an antioxidant, in ulcer prevention, for people with diabetes, for mental and memory effects, and its antiinflammatory properties. Unfortunately, most of this research has been done with animals and there are very few human studies that tell us in what conditions this herb is of most benefit. Emblica Officinalis is the botanical name and this herb is also known as amla.

Emblica officinalis and liver health
Reversal of hepatotoxin-induced pre-fibrogenic events by Emblica officinalis--a histological study.
Indian J Exp Biol. 2007 July. Division of Pharmacology, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, (Formerly Regional Research Laboratory), Jammu-Tawi 180 001, India.
Efficacy of a herbal product of Emblica officinalis (fruit) has been evaluated against carbon tetrachloride and thioacetamide induced changes in rat liver. Chronic treatment of carbon tetrachloride and thioacetamide revealed abnormal histopathology indicative of pre-fibrogenic events. Emblica officinalis reversed such alterations with significant regenerative changes suggestive of its preventive role in prefibrogenesis of liver.

Emblica officinalis Gaertn.attenuates age-related renal dysfunction by oxidative stress.
J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Sep. Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.
To investigate the effects of Emblica officinalis on renal dysfunction involved in oxidative stress during the aging process, we employed young (2 months old) and aged (13 months old) male rats and administered SunAmla (Taiyo Kagaku Co., Ltd., Japan) or an ethyl acetate extract of Emblica officinalis, a polyphenol-rich fraction, at a dose of 40 or 10 mg/kg body weight/day for 100 days. The administration of SunAmla or EtOAc extract of Emblica officinalis reduced the elevated levels of serum creatinine and urea nitrogen in the aged rats. In addition, the tail arterial blood pressure was markedly elevated in aged control rats as compared with young rats, while the systolic blood pressure was significantly decreased by the administration of SunAmla or EtOAc extract of Emblica officinalis. Furthermore, the oral administration of SunAmla or EtOAc extract of Emblica officinalis significantly reduced thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels of serum, renal homogenate, and mitochondria in aged rats, suggesting that Emblica officinalis would ameliorate oxidative stress under aging. These results indicate that Emblica officinalis would be a very useful antioxidant for the prevention of age-related renal disease.