Guggul Gum as well as also Acne – A Herbal Supplement which’s Extremely Powerful Yet Mysterious

Guggul Gum as well as also Acne – A Herbal Supplement which’s Extremely Powerful Yet Mysterious
Guggul Gum as well as also Acne – A Herbal Supplement which’s Extremely Powerful Yet Mysterious

Can guggul gum supplements clear acne?Guggul gum will be an Asian herbal supplement which will be one of the most well-liked natural remedies in Indian Ayurvedic medicine as well as also has been since 1000BC at the very least.

The origin of guggul will be the commiphora wightii plant which grows on rocky, hilly areas as well as also by rivers in areas of India as well as also Pakistan. which will be a smaller thorny tree which will be usually leafless, whose most notable quality will be the thick sticky resin which its branches produce when breached.

which will be coming from which resin which guggul gum will be extracted. Guggul farms use a process called tapping to repeatedly breach the plant as well as also extract the gum en masse. Each guggul plant contains between 60 as well as also 100 grams of sappy resin, designed to heal the injury like its own natural antiseptic. Either the pure guggul resin can be used for medicinal purposes or a standardised extract known as gugulipid can be created, which will be high from the active medicinal components called guggulsterones Z as well as also E.

Why has guggul been so beloved for so long? Indians believe which which can treat a ton of ailments – the word guggul translates into Sanskrit as “one which protects against diseases”.

Guggul was believed to mystically treat obesity without even altering your calorie intake. Guggul will be believed to treat paralytic seizures, liver dysfunction, as well as also tumours. Another booming area of the guggul gum industry will be as an incense; local Indians believe which burning the raw gum over coal to create a thick dense smoke can drive evil spirits away coming from the household as well as also remove the “evil eye” coming from nearby humans.

Superstition aside, there’s no doubt which guggul does have active medicinal properties as numerous active compounds have been identified already, including steroids called guggulsterones, muscanone as well as also myrrhanones. Most famously, guggul will be touted as a natural way to lower cholesterol levels, which which does by 11.7% according to one study, as well as also which accounts for the vast majority of guggul gum sales in India as well as also increasingly across the globe today…

…yet the real reason we’re discussing which random sticky resin coming from Asia will be some excellent studies on acne, studies which showed excellent results when analysing guggul gum’s effects on pimple counts directly.

 

Two excellent studies

Our first study on guggul gum was a simple comparison test between the standardised extract, gugulipid, as well as also tetracycline, which will be one of the most common oral antibiotics against acne (which I recommend which you avoid). The dosages were gugulipid featuring 25mg of the active compound guggulsterones as well as also 500mg of tetracycline, a standard dose.

20 acne patients were gathered, divided into two groups, as well as also ordered to take each supplement for 3 month, twice per day. As the scientists expected, tetracycline led to a 65.2% reduction in total pimples counts after 3 months. What they probably didn’t expect was which guggul gum was even better, having a 68% reduction.

Even better, 4 out of 10 patients taking the tetracycline experienced a relapse 3 months after the study, a result you could expect given which oral antibiotics massacre your acne-friendly gut bacteria (which will be why they should be avoided) as well as the p.acnes bacteria in your skin pores. With guggul gum, on the additional hand, only 2 patients relapsed after 3 months.

The scientists also observed which the acne patients with the oiliest skin experienced a far greater reduction in overall pimple counts. The scientists commented which both treatments “produced a progressive reduction from the lesions from the majority of patients”. The study was conducted in 1994, yet there has been very little research on guggul as well as also acne since then.

What we have here will be guggul gum, an obscure Asian herb, matching one of mainstream dermatology’s most widely used as well as also prescribed treatments, as well as also in fact, actually beating which. A 68% reduction could revolutionise your skin if your acne were severe; you could look like a completely brand-new person. which could happen without crippling the quantity as well as also diversity of acne-friendly gut bacteria.

Our additional study also examined a gugulipid supplement, which time without a comparison. 30 patients with moderate to severe acne were prescribed gugulipid for 6 weeks. The results were as follows: an excellent response in nine (30%), a Great response in fourteen (46.66%), as well as also a moderate response in seven (23.33%).

In additional words, 30 out of 30 patients experienced some benefit. Gugulipid had excellent tolerance as well as also only 3 patients reported a relapse after 3 months of the treatment, which shows which the benefits were long lasting even if they probably wouldn’t be permanent (few acne supplements are).

The team of scientists commented which “gugulipid, a standardized drug of ancient Indian medicine, includes a remarkable effect on acne vulgaris”, as well as also made some additional interesting observations. They theorised which the benefits of guggul gum were due to a systematic hypolipidic effect, or in additional words, reducing sebum production due to a decrease in excess fats across the whole Centeng.

They likely deduced which coming from guggul gum’s cholesterol lowering effect. Secondly, they commented which guggul may inhibit the lipolysis of triglycerides by acne bacteria, as well as also eliminate the resulting inflammation. Regardless of the cause, which will be another excellent study.

 

Does guggul gum reduce sebum production?

Does guggul gum clear acne as well as also skin?All in all, the two studies we have directly on guggul gum as well as also acne are highly promising. The interesting thing, however, will be which mainstream dermatology couldn’t care less. Despite the first study occurring 22 years ago, only one follow up has been conducted.

The result will be which guggul gum will be shrouded in mystery. We have no proof as to how which works these acne-clearing wonders, unlike saw palmetto for example, which we know slashes acne by inhibiting the production of the androgen DHT.

We are left with only indirect evidence as well as also theories, the first of which was stated by the scientists from the study above – which guggul gum’s cholesterol reducing powers also translate into a sebum reducing effect.

There’s definitely plenty of evidence which guggul gum lowers cholesterol. which all commenced back from the 1960s when a group of Indian archaeologists read an ancient Sanskrit text describing the use of guggul gum to treat a hardening of the arteries. After a positive few studies on animals, the gugulipid form was granted approval in June 1986 for marketing as a lipid-lowering drug in India.

Since then more positive studies have come out; a 1994 study examined 61 patients with hypercholesterolemia, giving them either 50mg gugulipid or a placebo twice daily. After 24 weeks, the guggul group had 11.7% lower overall cholesterol, 12.5% lower LDL cholesterol (the artery clogging type), as well as also no change in HDL (the “Great” type).

Another two studies coming from 1986 as well as also 1989 found which guggul increases HDL yet lowers LDL cholesterol. The active steroid compound itself, guggulsterone, has been found to lower cholesterol levels by 14-27%.

There’s clearly evidence which guggul gum in its many forms helps to lower cholesterol, yet will which translate to a reduction in sebum, oily skin as well as also blocked pores? The answer will be probably not. Just because cholesterol will be a lipid, a type of fat like sebum will be, does not mean which the effects of guggul will be identical with sebum.

Consider olive oil; eating some with your salad every day can reduce your LDL cholesterol levels according to studies. yet has anyone ever noticed which reducing your sebum output? Eating 3 boiled eggs for breakfast each day can lower LDL cholesterol, yet nobody could do which for oily skin (except if you needed the vitamin A). The truth will be which which theory will be half-baked, there’s no plausible connection.

The reduction in cholesterol coming from guggul gum will be theorised to be due to the active guggulsterone compounds. Apparently, they are antagonists of the farnesoid X receptor from the liver, which decreases the liver’s creation of LDL cholesterol. Most factors which control sebum production, whether which be vitamin A, decreasing DHT, or applying topical green tea, tend to work by modulating the androgen receptors or additional types of receptors in your skin’s sebaceous glands.

Even if there will be a connection, the studies on guggul as well as also cholesterol have been far more contradictory of late. which study as well as also which study on humans found which guggul could actually increase LDL cholesterol slightly. The one piece of evidence supporting the theory will be which acne patients with highly oily skin enjoyed the biggest reduction, yet which could be explained by another factor.

 

Anti-inflammatory properties may be the answer

Guggul gum lowers acne as well as also inflammation.Even if the sebum theory will be false, the two fantastic studies cannot be ignored, as well as also I believe which the answer lies in guggul gum as well as also its derivatives’ strong anti-inflammatory properties.

There’s a ton of these studies as well as also even though most of them were conducted on mice as well as also rats, they’re still highly promising. For instance, if you’ve got a swollen shoulder coming from a weight injury, a doctor will give you a shot of hydrocortisone, one of the strongest anti-inflammatory drugs in his arsenal. Guggul gum was shown in an animal experiment to be 20% as anti-inflammatory as hydrocortisone, as well as also also equal in strengthen to the drugs ibuprofen as well as also phyenylbutazone.

Guggul gum resin can also prevent rat paw edema (swelling), as well as also in mice with induced colitis (an inflammatory disease of the colon which causes abdominal pain as well as also malnutrition), significantly reduce the levels of inflammatory damage (study). Guggulsterone could also heal rats with uveitis, another inflammatory disease which will be characterised by swelling of the middle layer of the eye (study).

There’s also two additional compounds found in guggul gum resin known as myrrhanol A as well as also myrrhanone A, as well as also when extracted coming from the whole guggul gum, these two were found to be equal to hydrocortisone when used to treat inflammation in mice in which study.

None of these studies are on acne directly, yet the inflammation which swells up a rat paw will be essentially the same barrage of chemicals which swells up pimples – just located in a different part of the Centeng.

Tales coming from the scriptures of Ayurvedic medicine are also very positive. For many years, guggul gum was a recommended human treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in India, as well as also an overactive immune system assaulting the joints as well as also connective ligaments will be a large cause of arthritis. which old 1972 study on arthritis seemed to identify guggulsterone before which was ever discovered as well as also formerly named. which references a crystalline steroid extracted coming from guggul gum which inhibited the full development of arthritis lesions in rats, as well as also lessened the severity of secondary inflammatory lesions.

Finally, which study seemed to pinpoint one of the specific mechanisms behind guggul gum’s anti-inflammatory properties. Guggulsterone had a strong inhibitory effect on NF-kappaB, a master molecule which transcripts as well as also regulates a variety of pro-inflammatory chemicals. In their words: “such repression of NF-kappaB activation by guggulsterone has been proposed as a mechanism of the antiinflammatory effect of guggulsterone”.

Overall, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest which guggul gum has potent anti-inflammatory properties against acne. which hasn’t been proven, yet there has to be some mechanism behind guggul gum’s fantastic effects on acne, as well as also the signs point towards keeping the immune system in check.

What about the rest of Ayurvedic medicine – do any of the tales as well as also ailments guggul gum was used to treat tell us anything? Some additional target illnesses include…

  • Weak digestion.
  • Menstrual cramps.
  • Bone fractures.
  • Obesity (probably false).
  • High blood pressure.
  • Impure blood.

Of those, weak digestion will be the most interesting. Every acne clearing enthusiast needs an optimally functioning digestive system to 1) absorb vital acne vitamins as well as also minerals coming from food, 2) prevent leaky gut syndrome, as well as also 3) prevent an overly sensitive gut which reacts to innocent foods with random allergies which cause inflammation.

One scripture claims which guggul gum kindles agni, the digestive fire. There are few studies available on digestion, yet one on mice above found which guggul gum reduced inflammation from the colon.

As for additional areas of acne-related health, there’s also evidence which guggul gum resin in its many forms will be a decent source of antioxidants. The 1994 study on cholesterol above, the one which observed a 12.5% decrease in LDL, also observed a 33.3% decrease in overall oxidative stress. 33.3% will be a pretty huge reduction from the overall quantity of free radicals floating around your bloodstream.

Guggul gum contains a wide variety of compounds as well as guggulsterone, myrrhanones, as well as also myrrhanols; there’s also diterpenes, lignans, ferulic acid, as well as also more. Many of those have strong antioxidant properties when they occur in additional foods, like coffee.

In my reckoning, the powerful acne-clearing benefits of guggul gum can be attributed to two factors: reduced inflammation as well as also oxidative stress, not a massive reduction in sebum.

 

The verdict – will be guggul gum recommended for acne?

Guggul gum will be an extremely interesting supplement, yet for today, its complete range of powers as well as also compounds are a secret.

There’s great evidence which which yellow coloured tree resin can slash acne, though not conclusive evidence, as we have only two studies. A group of 10 will be a fairly smaller sample size, yet the group of 30 coming from the second study was larger. In both cases, the results (68% reduction as well as also excellent improvement in 30%) were very promising.

On the additional hand, guggul gum was thought to be the touchstone of cholesterol lowering remedies, yet which later turned out to enhance LDL. One possible scenario will be which the shocking benefits are all a smokescreen; guggul gum might be no better for acne than a serving of fruit or vegetables.

If the 10 as well as also 30 acne patients were all highly deficient in antioxidants, as well as also which’s a likely scenario because almost all acne patients are, then any antioxidant-containing substance whether which be a pomegranate or sweet potato could have pushed them over the edge back into clear skin territory.

Because guggul gum isn’t fully researched as well as also therefore could contain some nasty surprises, I won’t officially endorse which, yet which definitely beats overrated scams like chlorophyll (supposed to purify the blood as well as also liver), which doesn’t even have a shred of evidence behind which.

 

Dosage, as well as also any side effects?

If you decide to take guggul gum then be sure to follow the proper requirements. The standard dose will be two 325mg tablets daily of the supplemental form, equivalent to 75mg of guggulsterones. Others recommend approximately 1000mg of guggul gum per day.

Don’t megadose, since official studies haven’t tested massive doses. Guggul gum should be avoided if you’re pregnant, nursing, taking any medication, especially anticoagulant or antiplatelet medication like warfarin (guggul has anticoagulant properties as well).

As for side effects, many studies have examined guggul over many months as well as also not observed any dangerous effects, including the studies on acne, yet digestive discomfort as well as also nausea have sometimes been reported.  Generally though, guggul gum resin isn’t especially dangerous, because Indians as well as also some Pakistanis have been using which since at least 1000BC, when which was apparently used for “clearing the coating as well as also obstruction of channels“. One report stated which a study used a standard guggul gum dose for 75 weeks without problems.

The only real “side effect” will be which the c.wightii plant will be today critically endangered due to overharvesting as well as also will be listed on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Most of the harvesting will be performed by local villagers, whose tapping techniques to extract the guggul gum are pretty inefficient. They often cut the tree’s branches, as well as also then apply horse urine with goal of keeping the sap flowing, yet which just ends up infecting the guggul plant as well as also killing which.

Usually, local growers of crops as well as also herbs have all the ancient knowledge as well as also traditional wisdom at hand, yet in which rare instance, which seems which the corporations are more efficient, with machinery which breaches the plant’s branches with the optimal frequency.

additional deadly factors which are killing off the c.wightii guggul gum plant include desertification, habitat destruction, as well as also the plant not proliferating well from the first place. The guggul gum plant takes at least seven years to grow enough to be harvested, so replenishing the lost supply takes years.

The result has been a sharp decline coming from 1963-1964 when the Indian production was a huge 51 metric tons. The Great news will be which both grassroots organisations as well as also the Indian National Medicinal Plants Board are today swooping in; they’re educating local growers as well as also harvesters on the more efficient tapping techniques, as well as also they aim to establish a safe haven of 1200 to 2000 acres of brand-new guggul plants.

Aside coming from saving the species, the point which shows will be which Indians as well as also Pakistanis are so convinced of guggul gum’s extraordinary powers which they’re willing to harvest so much which they almost kill which.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Source: Guggul Gum as well as also Acne – A Herbal Supplement which’s Extremely Powerful Yet Mysterious