Gotu Kola (Scientific name: Centella asiatica ) is an herbaceous perennial plant used as culinary vegetable and medicinal tea in Asia and it’s also called Asiatic pennywort.
Gotu Kola has been known to the wetlands for two thousand years and it’s used in Ayurveda medicine in revitalizing body nerves and brain cells.
It even featured in Chinese herbal advisor (Shennong Herbal).
Gotu Kola has numerous nutritional properties and diverse health benefits as it was known to the wetland thousand years ago
It’s not only used for nerves and brain effectiveness but also in enhancing the endocrine system and improving the overall wellbeing.
Gotu Kola has the following properties for fighting ailments in the body
Antifungal: Gotu Kola is a natural herb and vegetable that can fight the growth of fungi in and on the body.
It can be processed into cream, tea and can be used with other antifungal food.
It’s a natural remedy to prevent or control yeast infections and fungi growth on the skin.
Some other fungal infections it can help with naturally are Aspergillosis, Coccidioidomycosis, gattii Infection, Blastomycosis, Candidiasis in the mouth, throat, and esophagus, Vaginal, Neoformans Infection and others.
Antioxidant: Gotu kola can help protecting the body cells from unstable molecules generated during oxidation processes and aging process.
Since it has antioxidant properties, it can prevent free radicals from damaging DNA cells, cellular proteins, lipids, and collagen in the body.
It can also help in preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer, help fighting molecular degeneration, protecting the cells against rapid ageing , stimulating cell growth, and supporting the immune system.
Detoxifying : Gotu kola can help removing toxins from the body, cleaning the liver, intestines, kidneys and lungs from toxin.
It also improves mental health, and blood circulation which also help oxygen in getting to the cells as quick as possible.
Not only that, it also has a positive effect on regeneration of blood cells and vessels and generally improving your overall wellbeing.
Anti-inflammatory: Gotu kola can reduce chronic inflammation in the body and thus improve associated risks with chronic inflammation.
With this, it helps in reducing pain in the muscles and at joint, and also help in wound recovery.
Gotu kola is also used as Diuretics, reduce the risk of high blood pressure, possibly help in losing weight since it also dehydrate the body.
It can be used to de-bloat, inhibit cell growth and division (Cytostasis) thereby controlling cells generation in the body and reduce pain in the body.
Gotu kola is mainly used in Ayurveda medicine and also in traditional Chinese medicine to treat the following ailments in the body
- Chronic infectious diseases
- Bacterial infections
- Respiratory diseases
- Immune diseases
- Urinary tract infection
- Diseases of the cardiovascular system
- Diseases of the nervous system
- Skin tightening and rejuvenating
- Gastrointestinal discomfort due to stress
- Wound healing and to help scar formation
Other areas of application, although not yet having convincing studies on the health effects but ingredients such as Brahmoside and Brahminoside have a calming effect and improvements were observed when Gotu kola is used traditionally by the Chinese.
Some of the areas of application are asthma, dermatitis, cellulite, eczema, exhaustion, memory impairment, epilepsy, STDs, skin fungi, diarrhea, malaria, rheumatism, psoriasis, Stretch marks, psych, sleep disorders.
