CHENNAI: Nowadays, an advice ‘change your lifestyle’ is becoming common among men. There are dozens of health complaints marked as lifestyle diseases and obesity ranks top amongst those. Lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating are reported as the primary reasons for obesity.
According to a recent report, India has the second highest number of obese children in the world with 14.4 million. As the whole world tries to combat this emerging lifestyle disorder, our traditional systems of medicine suggest many formulations to reduce cholesterol.
For more than 3,000 years, Guggulu, the gum tapped from Guggul tree is used as a key component in our traditional knowledge system to reduce cholesterol and as weight-reducing agent in obesity. Guggulu, a Sanskrit word means ‘protecting from disease’. Interestingly, several studies reveal that gum Guggulu is also useful in the treatment of acne and arthritis; can stimulate increased production of thyroid hormones in order to boost the immunity and used as aphrodisiac.
Guggul tree is scientifically known as Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari belonging to Burseraceae family. In India, it’s presence has been recorded from Gujarat and Rajasthan and to a small extent in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
It is a spiny, dwarf tree that reaches up to four meters tall. The outer bark is shiny, yellowish-white and peels off in papery rolls, while the inner bark is greenish and shiny. The leaves of the plant are small and trifoliate. The lateral leaflets fall off soon leaving a larger terminal leaflet. Flowers of the plant are small and pinkish-red and the fruit is an ovoid drupe 6-8 mm in diameter, which turns red on ripening.
The gum secreted by the plant has a huge demand in the international market. Guggulu is tapped by faulty extraction in order to meet the global demand. Heavy extraction of gum, which leads to death of the tree, habitat loss, and other anthropogenic pressures have threatened the survival of this species of plant.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, has tagged this species as “Critically Endangered” and Indian Government has banned the export of this species.