Andrographis

Andrographis paniculate is an herb that is indigenous to many Asian countries (India, Malaysia, Thailand, China, etc). It has a long history of being used for colds, sore throat, influenza, respiratory infections, sinusitis, UTI's, diarrhea etc.  Much pharmaceutical research has been done on one of its major active components, Andrographolide.

Like many herbs, Andrographis has shown a large range of therapeutic activities. These include being antiviral (1), antibacterial (2), antimalarial (3), hepatoprotective (4), anti-inflammatory (5), platelet aggregation inhibiting (6,7), anti-HIV, anti-allergic (8).

More specifically:

1.    Andrographis paniculata significantly increases the activities of antioxidant defense enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione-S-transferase and reduced glutathione content. (9). It also proves to be a potent free radical scavenger (10).

2.   It exhibits anti-histaminic properties and suppresses IL-2 (11, 12) and IL-12 (13).

3. As a hepatoprotective agent, it has been shown as, or even more, effective than silymarin (active component of milk thistle) [14] in reference to damage by ethanol and hepatitis B(15).

4. A. paniculata has been reported to work against Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli, gram A streptococci, and Staphylococcus aureus (2).

5. Andrographis has shown strong antiviral activity against Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) (16) and HIV.

6. It has proven to be renal protective against damage due to ingestion of certain antibiotics (17).

7. It was reported that the effect of andrographolide or A. paniculata on sex hormones in patients with an impaired testosterone level, might be able to return hormone levels to normal and treat decreased libido and decreased mental and physical sexual activity (18).

8  A. paniculata resolved 88.3% of acute bacillary dysentery and 91.3% of acute gastroenteritis cases (19).

Dosage 1-2 capsules 3x daily

Warnings and contraindications: Not enough research has been done on administration during pregnancy and breast feeding so to play it safe we advise not taking it. There have been a few cases of allergic reactions to Andrographis in people allergic to the “daisy” family of plant  so be cautious if that applies to you.

1. Calabrese C, Berman SH, Babish JG, et al. A phase I trial of andrographolide in HIV positive patients and normal volunteers. Phytotheraphy Research. 2000;14(5):333–338. 

2. Singha PK, Roy S, Dey S. Antimicrobial activity of Andrographis paniculata . Fitoterapia. 2003;74(7-8):692–694. 

3. Rahman NNNA, Furuta T, Kojima S, Takane K, Ali Mohd M. Antimalarial activity of extracts of Malaysian medicinal plants. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 1999;64(3):249–254. 

4.  Trivedi NP, Rawal UM. Hepatoprotective and antioxidant property of Andrographis paniculata (Nees) in BHC induced liver damage in mice. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology. 2001;39(1):41–46

5. Shen YC, Chen CF, Chiou WF. Andrographolide prevents oxygen radical production by human neutrophils: possible mechanism(s) involved in its anti-inflammatory effect. British Journal of Pharmacology. 2002;135(2):399–406. 

6. Amroyan E, Gabrielian E, Panossian A, Wikman G, Wagner H. Inhibitory effect of andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata on PAF-induced platelet aggregation. Phytomedicine. 1999;6(1):27–31. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

7. Lu WJ, Lee JJ, Chou DS, et al. A novel role of andrographolide, an NF-kappa B inhibitor, on inhibition of platelet activation: the pivotal mechanisms of endothelial nitric oxide synthase/cyclic GMP. Journal of Molecular Medicine. 2011;89(12):1263–1271. 

8. Xia YF, Ye BQ, Li YD, et al. Andrographolide attenuates inflammation by inhibition of NF-κB activation through covalent modification of reduced cysteine 62 of p 50. Journal of Immunology. 2004;173(6):4207–4217

9.  Verma N, Vinayak M. Antioxidant action of Andrographis paniculata on lymphoma. Molecular Biology Reports. 2008;35(4):535–540

10. Lin FL, Wu SJ, Lee SC, Ng LT. Antioxidant, antioedema and analgesic activities of Andrographis paniculata extracts and their active constituent andrographolide. Phytotherapy Research. 2009;23(7):958–964. 

11. Deng WL. Outline of current clinical and pharmacological research on Andrographis paniculata in China. Newsletters Chinese Herbal Medicine. 1978;10,:27–31. 

12. Iruretagoyena MI, Sepúlveda SE, Lezana JP, et al. Inhibition of nuclear factor-κB enhances the capacity of immature dendritic cells to induce antigen-specific tolerance in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 2006;318(1):59–67. 

13. Qin LH, Kong L, Shi GJ, Wang ZT, Ge BX. Andrographolide inhibits the production of TNF-α and interleukin-12 in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages: role of mitogen-activated protein kinases. Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 2006;29(2):220–224. 

14. Singha PK, Roy S, Dey S. Protective activity of andrographolide and arabinogalactan proteins from Andrographis paniculata Nees. against ethanol-induced toxicity in mice. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2007;111(1):13–21. 

15 . Rajkumar JS, Sekar MG, Mitra SK. Safety and efficacy of oral HD-03/ES given for six months in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. World Journal of Gastroenterology. 2007;13(30):4103–4107

16. Tang LIC, Ling APK, Koh RY, Chye SM, Voon KGL. Screening of anti-dengue activity in methanolic extracts of medicinal plants. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012;12(3):1–10. 

 17. Singh P, Srivastava MM, Khemani LD. Renoprotective effects of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees in rats. Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences. 2009;114(3):136–139. 

18. Sattayasai J, Srisuwan S, Arkaravichien T, Aromdee C. Effects of andrographolide on sexual functions, vascular reactivity and serum testosterone level in rodents. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2010;48(7):1934–1938

19. Chang, Hson-Mou, and Paul Pui-Hay But. Pharmacology and Applications of Chinese Materia Medica: (Volume I). 2014.

Andrographis is packaged in a bottle containing 90 veggie capsules, each containing approximately 400 mg of Andrographis paniculata (Green Chiretta) without fillers, binders or excipients.

1-2 capsules 2x per day