Burseraceae
Commiphora wightii
Guggul · Indian bdellium
- Part used
- resin
- Native range
- Arid north-western India and Pakistan
- Morphology
- A thorny deciduous shrub to four metres with peeling papery bark, small trifoliate leaves and a gum-resin that exudes from cuts in the bark.
- Also known as
- Commiphora mukul
What is in it
Evidence
The traditional lipid-lowering use produced a well-known negative result: a randomised trial published in JAMA in 2003 found no reduction in LDL cholesterol, and in the higher-dose group LDL rose. Earlier positive Indian trials have not been replicated independently.
Safety
Gastrointestinal upset and skin rash are common. Guggulsterone antagonises the farnesoid X receptor, which is a plausible mechanism for interactions and is poorly characterised. Thyroid effects reported.
Interactions: Reduces levels of propranolol and diltiazem; Possible interaction with thyroid medication and anticoagulants
Regulatory: Permitted as a listed medicine ingredient in Australia.
How the traditions classify it
Three systems, rating the same plant. Where they disagree, none of them is correcting the others — they are separate frameworks that arrived at their categories independently.
Historical use
In Ayurvedic use for around three thousand years and one of the classical formulations most widely prescribed. Tapped by cutting the bark, which is the source of its conservation problem.
Recorded as history and attributed where possible. Long use establishes that a plant was widely used, not that it worked, and not that it was safe.
Worth knowing
Guggul is a rare case where a Western trial produced a clean negative result on a major traditional indication, and produced the opposite of the expected effect.
The 2003 JAMA trial found no LDL reduction, and LDL actually rose in the higher-dose arm. That is a more useful outcome than an inconclusive one, and it has not much dented the market.
The conservation position is worse than the evidence. Commiphora wightii is assessed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered. Tapping damages the shrub, regeneration is slow in arid country, and demand has stripped wild populations across Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is the most threatened species in this collection, harvested for a use that a good trial says does not work.
Nomenclature verified against GBIF backbone taxonomy.