Tinospora cordifolia

About

What it is and where it shows up.

Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia) is a perennial climbing shrub of the Menispermaceae family, native to tropical India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for its immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Its stem, root, and leaves contain bioactive phytochemicals including alkaloids, diterpenoid lactones, glycosides, steroids, and polysaccharides, and it is incorporated into nutraceuticals, functional foods, and dietary supplements.

Safety summary

The regulatory and scientific consensus.

At typical Ayurvedic doses, short-term use appears relatively safe in most adults; however, multiple case series have linked Giloy consumption—particularly unsupervised or high-dose use—to idiosyncratic, possibly immune-mediated herb-induced liver injury (HILI), including autoimmune-pattern hepatitis. Contamination or misidentification with the closely related hepatotoxic species Tinospora crispa has been proposed as a confounding factor, but T. cordifolia itself contains clerodane furano-diterpenoids with hepatotoxic potential. No formal ADI has been established by any major international regulatory body.

Regulatory landscape

What food-safety regulators have decided.

Jurisdiction	Status	Note
FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) (India)	Approved	FSSAI recognises root and stem of T. cordifolia as a nutritional supplement in powder, decoction, sattva (satva), and extract forms at doses of 0.5–10 g per day. No ban or restriction in place; sold widely as a food supplement.source
FDA (Food and Drug Administration) (United States)	Approved	Marketed and sold as a dietary supplement under DSHEA; FDA has not issued a specific approval or ban. No formal ADI established. Sold under brand names such as HistaEze containing 900 mg T. cordifolia stem extract.source
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) (European Union)	Under_review	Not listed as an approved food additive or novel food in the EU. May be sold as a herbal food supplement in some member states under national legislation; no harmonised EFSA opinion or ADI established to date.source

Who should approach with care

Whose guidance would steer them away.

Liver Disease — Multiple case series (Nagral et al., Kulkarni et al.) document that T. cordifolia can cause autoimmune-pattern herb-induced liver injury; individuals with pre-existing liver disease face substantially elevated risk.

Pregnancy — No controlled safety data exist for T. cordifolia in pregnancy, and its potent immunomodulatory alkaloids and potential hepatotoxic diterpenoids pose an unquantified risk to the fetus.

Lactation — Bioactive phytochemicals including alkaloids and glycosides from T. cordifolia may transfer to breast milk; no safety data in lactating women are available.

Infants — T. cordifolia has not been evaluated for safety in infants, and its alkaloid/diterpenoid content poses uncharacterised risks in this population.

Children — Formal paediatric safety data are absent; immunomodulatory potency and hepatotoxic potential reported in adult case series warrant medical supervision before use in children.

Research citations

The sources behind this verdict.

1PubMed. Immunomodulatory properties of Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia) leaves and its applications in value-added products, 2024. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
2other. Tinospora – LiverTox (NIH/NCBI Bookshelf), 2024. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
3PubMed. Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi/Giloy)-Induced Liver Injury: A Case Review, 2023. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
4FSSAI. Regulation of Insulin Resistance, Lipid Profile and Glucose Metabolism Associated with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by Tinospora cordifolia, 2023. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
5other. Tinospora cordifolia (Giloy)-Induced Liver Injury During the COVID-19 Pandemic—Multicenter Nationwide Study From India, 2022. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
6PubMed. Apparent Hepatotoxicity of Giloy (Tinospora cordifolia): Far From What Meets the Eyes, 2022. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Independently researched7 citations