Pharmacological Profile of Triphala with Respect to Their Chemical Constituents

Abstract

Ayurveda is a traditional Indian system of medicine which has been practiced for 3000 years. It gives various single and combinations of herbal and mineral drugs for various conditions. Novel technologies and scientific approaches can make use of such traditional knowledge and help develop new drugs and/or therapeutic uses as well as give evidence to certain traditional practices. Triphala is one of the most commonly used ayurvedic preparations. It is used to alleviate a wide range of diseases. This review uses Ayurvedic texts as well as scientific online databases such as PubMed, GoogleScholar, and ScienceDirect to investigate the use of scientific research methods in the ayurvedic formulation Triphala. The following search terms were used: Triphala, terminalia chebula, terminalia bellerica, Phyllanthus embilica, chemical constituents, gallic acid, chebulinic acid, molecular docking. Studies about Triphala and their individual drugs as well as their active compounds were concentrated upon. This formulation has action against symptoms like indigestion to diseases like cancer. This medicine is popular among Indian folk and is used even as an OTC product. There are many research works being conducted on Triphala and its therapeutic effect. This formulation is rich in a variety of chemical compounds including Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Steroids, Saponins, Phenols etc. Detailed analyses have found presence of Chebulagic acid, Syringic acid, Epicatechin, Chebulinic acid and Gallic acids in it. However, the need to develop these works to a fully usable form for the medical community has not been met. This review concludes that Triphala is a treasure that should be researched further for the benefit of global health.