Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol. 2(3), July 2003, pp. 215-223

Antioxidant and trace element potential of Chyavanpraash and some Ayurvedic preparations

Vaishali V Agte* I , Sangeeta S Mengale l, Mandar Akkalkotkar2

, Kishore M Paknikar l

& Shashi A Chiplonkar l

1 Agharkar Research Institute, G G Agarkar Road, Pune 411 004

2Ayurveda Research Institute, Karve Road, Pune 411004, India

Received J J November 2002; revised 28 January 2003

Importance of antioxidants such as vitamin C and zinc in treatment of diabetes mellitus and hypertension is being recognised. There is a growing interest to find naturally occurring an­tioxidants rather than synthetic ones for their use in medicinal material. Therefore a study was undertaken a) to assess antioxidant and trace metal potential of five brands of Chyavanpraash and eight marketed Ayurvedic preparations (AP) at their prescribed dose level along with their major nine ingredients; b) to measure bioavailable amounts of trace metals; and c) to examine toxicity of lead in these AP. Trivang, Abhrak and Loha bhasma had high levels of copper, co­balt and nickel. Manganese contents were high in Trivang and Abhrak but zero in Lohabhasma. Even though amalaki is one of the main ingredients of Chyavanpraash and Raktavardhak, their vitamin C content was quite low. Tannic acid was marginal in these two preparations. Three types of amalaki showed variable contents of iron, zinc, copper, lead, manganese and ascorbic acid. Tannic acid was highest in small amalaki. Sun drying reduced vitamin C content by sev­enty five percent of the fresh amalaki. Lohabhasma showed highest bioavailable iron followed by Lohachurna. The bioavailable iron was negligible in Chyavanpraash and Raktavardhaka as compared to Lohabhasma and Abhrak bhasma. Bioavailable zinc content was high in Trivang bhasma and is a promising zinc supplement. Mineral iron treated with Gomutra decreased % iron bioavailability by one third but % zinc bioavailabiliy increased twofold. Lead content was highest in Trivang bhasma. The content of lead in daily dose of Chyavanpraash and Raktavard­hak was high, but within the prescribed safe limits for lead. Further the bioavailable amount of lead for all these preparations was also very low.

Keywords: Chyavanpraash, Ayurvedic preparations, iron, zinc, ascorbic acid, tannic acid.

Introduction

In recent years prevalence of non­communicable disorders like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, arthritis and heart problems has increased in our country. Majority of these disorders have been

*Correspondent author

linked to oxidative stress due to free radi­cals. In treatment of these diseases anti­oxidant therapy has gained an utmost im­portance. Current research is now di­rected towards finding naturally occurring antioxidants of plant origin for medicinal use to replace synthetic antioxidants, which are being restricted due to their carcinogenecity.

216 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 2, No.3, JULY 2003

Traditional remedies based on plant extracts have an ancient origin from Ay­urveda. Various plants used in Ayurvedic preparations (AP) and other herbal thera­pies have been extensively analysed for their content of bioactive components' ·2.3 . The health benefits of the herbs may be due to their antioxidant activity. How­ever, due scientific attention has not been given to evaluate the potential of the herbal preparations for their antioxidant and trace metal contents.

Majority of herbo-minerals and other proprietary preparations in Ayurveda contain ingredients like amalaki (Emblica officinalis) which is known for it's 'ra­saayana' (anti-aging) and corrective property . According to modern science, it is the fruit having highest content of ascorbic acid (600mg/lOOg)4, one of the strong antioxidant vitamins. Ingredients of AP also include fermented or unfer­mented aqueous extracts (aasava) of plants, incinerated forms of minerals (bhasma). These may be rich sources of natural antioxidants. However varieties of processing used in AP may change their antioxidant potential.

Multiple treatments are given to the ingredients of AP, which include boiling of herbs, purification of minerals using herbal extracts or Gomutra (cow's urine). These may alter the composition and properties due to changes in the structure of bioactive compounds such as ascorbic acid and polyphenols or contamination of minerals like lead. Also during the vari­ous stages of drug preparation, the con­tent and bioavailability of minerals from the plant ingredients may be affected. For example, tannic acid present in large

number of AP, which has antioxidant property5, may reduce the bioavailability of iron. It is therefore necessary to evalu­ate the antioxidant properties of the fin­ished products as AP sold in the market.

Chyavanpraash and Raktavardhak are popular Ayurvedic preparations with amalaki as the main ingredient and bhas­mas, which are inorganic preparations such as Lohabhasma (iron), Trivang (iron, zinc, tin) and Abhrak (iron, alu­mInIUm, magnesium, silica). These bhasmas are prepared by giving treatment called 'Bhaavnaa' to raw minerals with herb extracts or Gomutra (cow's urine).

Some trace metals like zinc are essen­tial and safe over large range; some are essential at low doses (copper, iron, sele­nium) but toxic at higher doses. Certain metals like lead and cadmium are toxic even at low doses. Therefore it is worth­while to estimate the mineral levels of AP for their toxicity.

The present study was therefore aimed to assess a) the antioxidant (ascorbic acid, tannic acid) and trace metal levels of 5 marketed samples of Chyavanpraash and 8 Ayurvedic preparations including bhasmas; b) to study the ingredients like amalaki, mineral iron, typically used for making Chyavanpraash and other AP for their levels of antioxidants and essential minerals; and c) to assess the content of contaminating trace metals like lead, cadmium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from the point of view of safety of AP.

Materials and methods The composition of nine marketed Ay­

urvedic preparations and their medicinal use is given in Table L. These nine AP

AGTE et al: ANTIOXIDANT AND TRACE ELEMENT POTENTIAL OF CHY AVANPRAASH 217

Name

Chyavanpraash

Raktavardhaka

Lohaasava

Asnaad

Ferrite (Rakta­vardhakvati)

Table 1- Description of Ayurvedic preparations

Description

Jam like product containing amalaki , and 24 herbs

Jam like product containing 19 herbs

Contains water extract of iron with several treatments of herbs and alcohol < 12%

Saptakapi (Casearia esculanta), asan (Pterocarpus marsupium), lodhra (Symplocos reCel1lOsa), karanja(Pongalllia glabra), khadir (Acacia catechu), shirish (Albizzia lebbeck), arjun, (Ter­minalia arjuna), palash, (Butea frondosa), jitasaya (Hamiltonia suaveolells), indrayava (Holarhella antidysenterica), moscharas (Bombax lIlalabariculll), sag (Tectolla gralU/is), chandandwaya (Santalwll album), gudmarpatra (GYlllllema sylvestre) , triturated with Kumari (Aloe vera) juice, shilaajit (natural raw mineral mixture)

Tablets containing 9 herbs and 3 bhasmas (roupya, suvar­namaakshik and loha)

Use

General tonic

Haematinic

Haematinic

Antidiabetic

Haematinic

Taapyaadilohavati 5 bhasmas (Suvarnamaakshik, loha, roupya, vanga, shilaajit) and 15 herbs

Haematinic, tissue tonic

Abhrak bhasma

Trivang bhasma

Lohabhasma

Name

Big amalaki

Medium amalaki

Small amalaki

Aavalkaathi

Loha+Gomutra

Lohachurna

Mineral iron

Samgandhak kajjali

Dried Gomutra

Incinerated natural abhraka

3 bhaslllas of tin , zinc and iron

Treated lohachurna (iron)

Table 2 - Description of ingredients and their use

Description Use

Respiratory, tissue tonic, T .B.,

Asthma

Anticeptic, urino­genital infection

Haematinic

Fresh amalaki Raw material for Chyavanpraash

Fresh amalaki Raw material for Chyavanpraash

Fresh amalaki Raw material for Chyavanpraash

Dried amalaki powder Ingredient in majority of AP

Mineral iron treated with gomutra Purification of mineral iron

Finely powdered, untreated mineral iron Preparing lohabhasma

Natural raw iron ore Raw material in AP

Equal parts of mercury and sulphur As a vehicle for drug absorption and utilisation

Cow's dried urine As an ingredient in AP

218 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 2, No.3, JULY 2003

were chosen, since these are in common use as general tonic, haematinic or anti­diabetic drug. Table 2 gives information about the form and use of major nine in­gredients of AP like amalaki fresh fruit, aavalkaathi (dried amalaki), mineral iron, and treated iron.

Amalaki is available in the market in 3 sizes, viz. big, medium and small as well as sun dried form 'aavalkaathi'. The types of amalaki and other additives like dried gomutra, gomutra treated loha, mineral iron, samgandhak kajjali and lohachurna were also assessed for the contents of trace metals and antioxidants.

The selected nine AP and nine ingredi­ents were analysed for the levels of a) antioxidants: ascorbic acid, tannic acid; b) essential metals: zinc, copper cadmium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and iron; and c) toxic trace metals: lead.

For Chyavanpraash, Raktavardhak and Lohaasava, contents of vitamin C and tannic acid were estimated using spectro­photometric methods6

. Trace mineral contents for all the AP were estimated using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) (Unicam, UK) with specific cath­ode lamps. For all the AP, intake of trace metals from usually prescribed dose (stated on the labels) was calculated.

In vitro dialysability under simulated gastro-intestinal conditions has been a useful tool to screen large number of test materials and study their comparative performance under identical conditions for the trace metal bioavailability. The bioavailability of iron and zinc was esti­mated as in vitro dialysability as per the internationally accepted FLAIR protocol? Radio isotopes (59Fe and 65Zn) were used

as extrinsic tags for estimating dialysable zinc/iron by gamma counting system with multi channel analyser (SMCA, NETS-3, Para Electronics, India). Bioavailable contents of iron, zinc were calculated from the per cent dialysability and the estimate of amount of mineral from the AAS.

Five marketed brands of Chyavan­praash were analysed in duplicate for trace metal contents and in triplicate for in vitro bioavailability of lead.

Student's t test was done to compare the differences between the bhasmas and other AP. Differences were considered statistically significant for p< 0.05.

Results Table 3 gives the contents of seven

trace metals, ascorbic acid and tannic acid for nine marketed formulations (AP) and nine ingredients. Among all AP, the con­tent of iron in Lohabhasma and Abhrak bhasma was higher than other AP. Trivang bhasma was rich in zinc, fol­lowed by Lohabhasma.

Bhasmas were also found to contain large levels of other essential trace metals i.e. copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese with Abhrak bhasma having highest lev­els of nickel, cobalt and manganese (0.12 mg, 69.3 I-!g, 1.27 mg/daily dose) . Con­tents of essential trace metals were com­pared with their Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)8 and contents for toxic metals with their safe levels or Recom­mended Dietary Intake (RDI)9. Intake of nickel and manganese from prescribed dose of all the AP was within safe limits and that of Abhrak bhasma was highest and close to RDT (0.1 mg/day). The RDA

AGTE et al: ANTIOXIDANT AND TRACE ELEMENT POTENTIAL OF CHY A V ANPRAASH 219

Table 3 - Levels of trace elements and ascorbic acid and tannic acid in AP and some individual ingredients (mg/l00g)

Chyavanpraash-I

Raktavardhak

Lohaasava

Asnaad

Ferrite

Taapyaadilohavati

Abhrak Bhasma

Trivang Bhasma

Loha Bhasma

Big amalaki

Medium amalaki

Small amalaki

Aavalkaathi

Loha+Gomutra

Lohachurna

Mineral iron

Samgandhak Kajjali

Dried Gomutra

Note:

Fe Zn

21.1 3.1

17.1 2.0

18.2 2.1

20.2 1.3

26.4 2.0

21.1 3.1

7714.7 59.1

1341 20050

40819.5 359.5

90.54 4.1

81.88 3.73

3.37 0.307

11.392 0.652

19299 2.4

17502.4 2.38

50098 5.48

47.04 5

205 3.62

Co

3.7

2.5

2.26

4.22

4.88

4

13.86

8.7

12.19

Cu

0.667

0.549

0.125

0.779

1.113

1.018

89.48

53.25

435.8

Ingredients

3.2 1.1

2.29 1.55

2.29 0.571

1.8 1.166

14.6 4.33

7.4 5

10.83 0.887

6.35 1.76

9.72 1.13

Recommended Dietary Intake for trace metals

Ni

1.4

1.25

o 0.79

3

2.96

24.6

2.2

40

2.1

1.6

1.6

o 2.3

0.29

o 0.7

0.29

Pb

2.4

0.82

o 8.7

10.4

o o

69.9

o

o 1.9

7.1

o o o o o o

Toxic: Lead - 25!!g/kg bodyweightlweek, Cadmium - 7!!g/kg bodyweight. Essential: Iron - 30mg/day, Zinc - 12.5mg/day, Copper - 2.5mg/day,

Nickel- 100!!g /day, Manganese - 3.5mg/day.

Mn

8.3

9

o 16.9

38.1

25

253

95.8

o

5.2

4.7

8.5

o 410

273.5

271.7

105 .2

114.2

Vit. C Tannic acid

0.5

5.7

o o o o o o o

245

275

350

87

o o o o o

20.2

11.5

3.2

o o o o o o

10.1

16.35

23.08

15.2

o o o o o

for copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese with their tolerable limits are given in the footnote of Table 3. The levels in daily dose (0.5g) of Abhrak bhasma amount to 25% RDA for copper, 100% RDA for nickel and manganese. Contribution of copper, the essential trace metal from prescribed dose (two teaspoons or 109) in Chyavanpraash, Raktavardhak and Lo-

haasava was small (0.01-0.07mg) com­pared to RDI (2.5 mg/day) but was high in Lohabhasma. The treatment with Go­mutra showed manifold increase in con­tents of nickel, manganese and cobalt.

The levels of cadmium were below the detection limit for all the AP. Lead was present to a smaller extent in Asnaad and Ferrite but to a greater extent in Trivang

220 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 2, No.3, JULY 2003

bhasma (350 JlgfO.5g). The daily intake of lead from Raktavardhak and Chyavan­praash (Cl) was found to be high (82 and 240 Jlg per 109). Other four brands of Chyavanpraash from different locations covering southern, western and northern regions of India also showed the range of lead to be 0.2 mg to 2.4 mg per lOOg. Considering the safe limit for lead9

(25Jlgf kg body weight/week), these AP were therefore assessed for the in vitro bioavailability of lead. However, it was observed that the dialysable lead was practically zero for all the AP containing lead.

Though the ascorbic acid content in fresh amalaki was high, drying of amalaki reduced the ascorbic acid content by 75% (Table 3) . Ascorbic acid was very low in Chyavanpraash and Raktavardhak (0.5 to 5.7 mg/lOOg) in spite of the fact that these contain amalaki as the major ingre­dient. Tannic acid was not present in sig­nificant amount in AP or ingredients.

Levels of beta-carotene were marginal in Chyavanpraash and Raktavardhak.

Three types of amalaki showed vari­able contents of iron, zinc, copper, lead and manganese (Table 3). Ascorbic acid varied from 245 to 350 mg, the levels less than the reported value of 600mg4. It was interesting to find that sun dried amalaki contained 87 mg ascorbic acid per 100g. Tannic acid was highest in small amalaki.

The bioavailable iron was low in Chyavanpraash, Raktavardhaka and Lo­haasava (0.04-0.07 mg flOg). However, in case of the bhasmas, the total and bioavailable iron contents were signifi­cantly large in Lohabhasma and Abhrak bhasma having 4.89 mg and 2.58 mg bioavailable iron per 0.5g. Considering the physiological iron requirement (1-3 mg depending on sex and physiological demand8

), these two AP seem to fulfil the need of iron with 0.5g intake per day.

Similar to the results of iron, the bioavailable amounts of zinc from bhas-

Table 4 - Bioavailability of iron and zinc from AP

Daily Bioavailable Bioavailable iron Bioavailab1e Bioavailable prescribed iron content per daily dose zinc content zinc per daily

dose mg / 100g mg mg / 100g dose g mg

Chyavanpraash-I 10 0.74 0.074 0.35 0.035

Raktavardhak 10 0.41 0.041 0.3 0.03

Lohaasava 10 0.38 0.038 0.27 0.027

Asnaad 0.5 0.26 0.001 0.2 0.001

Ferrite 0.5 0.79 0.004 0.27 0.001

Taapyaadilohavati 0.5 0.72 0.004 0.33 0.002

Abhrak Bhasma 0.5 516.9 2.584 20.3 0.102

Trivang Bhasma 0.5 37.5 0.187 882.2 4.41

Loha Bhasma 0.5 979.7 4.900 47.5 0.237

AGTE et al: ANTIOXIDANT AND TRACE ELEMENT POTENTIAL OF CHY A V ANPRAASH 221

mas (0.5g/day) were significantly larger than the Chyavanpraash (lOg/day). It was interesting to note that for Trivang bhasma, content of bioavailable zinc was high (4.4 mg per 0.5g) as compared to all other AP of the present study (Table 4). Again in light of physiological require­ment of zinc8 to be about 2.5 mg/day, Trivang bhasma is of promise as zinc supplement.

Among 3 different iron rich additives, mineral iron i.e. the untreated raw iron showed highest contents of bioavailable iron followed by Lohachurna (Table 5). Mineral iron treated with Gomutra showed decrease in % iron bioavailability from 6.37 to 2.15 but increase in % zinc bioavailabiliy from 16.8 to 28.9.

Five different brands of Chyavan­praash showed wide variations of zinc, iron and copper contents (Fig. 1). The range mgllOOg for zinc was 0.48 to 20.7; that of iron was 2.8 to 44.7; and for cop­per was 0.002 to 0.82.

Discussion Considering the high prevalence of

iron deficiency in Indians, Lohabhasma, Abhrak bhasma and Trivang bhasma showed a promise for supplementing iron in their prescribed doses. In the Third Report of the World Nutrition Situation 1997 10

, zinc deficiency has been recog­nised along with already identified defi­ciencies of iron, iodine and vitamin A. These three bhasmas have shown a good potential as a zinc supplement also. Ad­ditionally, copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese were found to be in adequate amounts but within safe levels in many bhasmas.

Table 5 - Bioavailability of iron and zinc from individual ingredients

Bioavailable Bioavailable iron content ZinC

content mg !IOOg mg !IOOg

Big amalaki 2.4 0.77 Medium amalaki 2.1 0.62 Small amalaki 0.1 0.08 Aavalkaathi 0.25 0.17 Loha+Gomutra 424.6 0.69 Lohachurna 542.6 0.54 Mineral iron 320.6 0.92 Samgandhak Kajjali 0 2.29 Dried Gomutra 0 0.90

Bioavailability of zinc increased after treatment of mineral iron with Gomutra. Gomutra is likely to contain products of protein metabolism like some free amino acids especially cystein and histidine which are known enhancers of zinc bio­availability. Secondly, acidic pH also in­creases zinc bioavailability. Which of the factors in gomutra has contributed in the overall increase of zinc bioavailability needs further investigation.

In some AP, higher levels of lead were found which might be partly due to the lead content in amalaki (Table 3) and partly due to contamination during prepa­ration. The metals in their insoluble forms are not hazardous as compared to their soluble or complexed forms. It was noted that 5 of 9 AP and 2 out of 9 ingredients contained detectable levels of lead, but the in vitro dialysability was below de­tection limits. The lead in these AP seems to be in the insoluble form and not likely to be bioavailable. These need further confirmation through in vivo experiments.

222 INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL 2, No.3, JULY 2003

cs "0

~ C4 .0 .r:: Cl) ell

~ C3 c ell >

1 C2 ()

C1

o 5 10 15 20 25 Zn content (mg%)

"0 C

C5

~ .0 C4 ..c en ro ~ C3 0.. C ro ~ C2 >­..c ()

C1

o 10 20 30 40 50

Fe content (mg%)

Fig. 1 - Zinc and iron contents in five brands of Chyavanpraash

The level of antioxidant vitamin, viz. ascorbic acid was marginal in Chyavan­praash and Raktavardhak. In spite of the fact that these AP contain amalaki I I.I 2, a rich source of ascorbic acid, there is a considerable loss of this valuable micro­nutrient during processing. This seems to

be obvious considering the type of treat­ment given to amalaki such as open pan boiling and heating during their prepara­tion. Therefore our results do not support the undue claims. Tannic acid contribu­tion in the prescribed dose was not found to be high. These AP were also poor

AGTE et al: ANTIOXIDANT AND TRACE ELEMENT POTENTIAL OF CHY A V ANPRAASH 223

sources of bioavailable iron and zinc (Ta­ble 4). Under this background the adver­tisements promoting Raktavardhak as haematinic tonic need to be reviewed. Present results stress further clinical studies for investigating health-promoting effects of Chyavanpraash and Raktavard­hak.

In conclusion plant based AP in the present study were found to contain es­sentiai trace metals and antioxidant vita­mins at moderate levels as against the high levels of synthetic formulations which may pose problems of nutrient im­balances and associated side effects. The present study also brings out the fact that lead contamination in AP is at the mini­mal level and not toxic. Further, bhasmas can be used as a natural strategy for con­trol and prevention of iron and zinc defi­ciency. It also suggests the need for proc­ess modification and reformulating of Chyavanpraash to enhance its antioxidant potential.

Acknowledgement Authors wish to thank the Director,

ARI for providing facilities.

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