Vacha Acorus calamus herb review and benefit
April 12 2016

Vacha is a well-known herb that grows worldwide wildly along swamps, rivers, and lakes. The roots and rhizomes of Vacha have been used in for the treatment of various neurological conditions, colic pain and diarrhea. See a list of Ayurvedic herbs and their health benefits.

Vacha inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines through multiple mechanisms and may be a an effective anti-inflammatory agent for the treatment of skin diseases.

Vacha contains

Blood pressure effect of Vacha herb
Blood pressure-lowering and vascular modulator effects of Acorus calamus extract are mediated through multiple pathways.
J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2009; Shah AJ,. Drug Discovery and Natural Products Research Division, Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan.
This investigation was aimed to provide a pharmacologic basis to the medicinal use of Acorus calamus in cardiovascular disorders. In normotensive anesthetized rats, crude extract of Acorus calamus and its ethylacetate and nHexane fractions caused a fall in mean arterial pressure. In rabbit aorta rings, crude extract was more potent against high K (80 mM), ethylacetate against phenylephrine, whereas nHexane fraction was equipotent against both precontractions. Crude extract exhibited a vasoconstrictor effect on baseline. Pretreatment of aortic rings with crude extract and its fractions shifted Ca concentration-response curves to the right, similar to verapamil. Crude extract and ethylacetate fraction suppressed phenylephrine peak formation in Ca-free medium. Our data indicate that crude extract possesses a combination of effects, relaxant effects mediated possibly through Ca antagonism in addition to a nitric oxide pathway, although the associated vasoconstrictor effects may be meant by nature to offset excessive vasodilatation, thus providing a pharmacologic rationale to its cardiovascular medicinal uses.

Vacha and epilepsy
Inhibitory role of Acorus calamus in ferric chloride-induced epileptogenesis in rat.
Hum Exp Toxicol. 2007; Hazra R, Ray K, Guha D. S. N. Pradhan Centre for Neurosciences, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India.
Data presented in this study clearly show that vacha possesses the ability for preventing the development of FeCl(3)-induced epileptogenesis by modulating antioxidant enzymes, which in turn exhibit the potentiality of vachas to be developed as an effective anti-epileptic drug.

Ayu. 2013. Preliminary physico-chemical profile of Brahmi Ghrita. Brahmi Ghrita was processed as per the process of Snehapaka procedure described in classics. It contained Brahmi (Bacopa monneri), Vacha (Acorus calamus), Kushtha (Sassurea lappa), Shankhapushpi (Convolvulos pluricalis), and Purana Ghrita.

Ayu. 2012. Anticonvulsant activity of raw and classically processed Vacha (Acorus calamus Linn.) rhizomes. The rhizome of Vacha (Acorus calamus) has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of various ailments, such as epilepsy, headache, eye disorders, insomnia, loss of memory, etc. Previous studies demonstrated that Vacha rhizome is having significant anticonvulsant activity against various induced seizures models in experimental animals. Ayurvedic pharmacopoeia of India has advocated Shodhana (purificatory procedures) to be done prior to its use. In the present study a comparative anticonvulsant activity of raw and Shodhita (classically processed) Vacha rhizomes were screened against Maximal Electro Shock (MES) seizure model to assess the effect of classical purificatory procedure on pharmacological action of Vacha. Phenytoin was used as standard antiepileptic drug for comparison. Pretreatment with both raw and classically processed Vacha samples exhibited significant anticonvulsant activity by decreasing the duration of tonic extensor phase. Further classically processed Vacha statistically decreased the duration of convulsion and stupor phases of MES-induced seizures. The results obtained from the present study clearly confirmed the anticonvulsant activity of raw Vacha and subjecting to classical Shodhana procedure did not alter the efficacy of Vacha rhizomes instead it enhanced the activity profile of the Vacha.