Goldthread Benefits

How Chinese Goldthread health benefits were found?

Goldthread is an essential herbal ingredient used in traditional Chinese medicine. But other countries, like Japan, India also used this herb in folk medicine. The long history of Goldthread use traced back in traditional medicinal system that attracts the attention of researchers. Many research works had already established the different medicinal properties of this herb. The rhizome part of this plant is mainly used in herbal medicine. scientific papers usually acknowledged Goldthread as Coptidis rhizoma, Coptis chinensis or C. teeta and this herb belongs to the Ranunculaceae family.

In traditional Chinese medicine, Goldthread used to treat multiple disorders, such as dysentery, empyrosis, typhoid, pertussis, tuberculosis, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, pertussis, and other diseases. [1]

What are the Phytochemicals present in Goldthread?

The phytochemical study reported that Goldthread contains multiple bioactive phytochemicals like flavonoids, alkaloids, lignans, phenolic acids, phenylpropanoids, steroids, and saccharides. Among these, different phytochemicals, secondary metabolites like different types of protoberberine-type alkaloids, such as berberine, coptisine, columamine, epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, and palmatine are the main bioactive components of Goldthread. The high-quality Goldthread contains the maximum quantity of protoberberine-type alkaloids. [1]

What is the Mode of action of Goldthread health benefits?

The wide variety of medicinal properties of Goldthread achieved due to its variety of bioactive phytochemicals follow the different mode of actions to subside the underlying conditions which trigger the disease condition.

Anti-inflammatory

Toxic substances like lipopolysaccharide released from bacteria cause increase secretion interleukin- 6 ((IL-6) secretion, activates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). Goldthread decreases IL-6 and deactivates NF-κB and reduces inflammation. [1]

Immunity enhancer

Goldthread can act on specific cell signaling pathway like mitogen-activated protein kinase and also increases the production of different kinds of Type I helper T cell cytokines and enhance immunity. [1]

Hypolipidemic effect

Goldthread increases CYP7A1 enzyme activity and converts cholesterol to bile acid. Thus, this herb increases the rate of lipid metabolism and exerts a hypolipidemic effect. [1]

Anti-diabetic property

Goldthread acts as an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor. Goldthread containing berberine, coptisine, epiberberine, and jatrorrhizine can reduce carbohydrate digestion and reduce the glucose absorption rate. [1]

Neuroprotective effect

Goldthread significantly inhibits acetylcholinesterase activity and provide a neuroprotective effect. [1]

What are the different forms of Goldthread?

More than 1000 of years, Traditional Chinese medicine uses Goldthread in different formulations to treat a variety of diseases. Usually, in combination with other herbs, Goldthread containing many dosage forms are available in the herbal market to treat different disease conditions. Some of these Goldthread containing herbal medicines are also mentioned in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission.

A Gong Niu Huang Pills: This medicine cures convulsions during fever, feverish, and gibberish conditions.
Dang Gui pills: This medicine cures dizziness, tinnitus, deafness, rib pain, abdominal distension pain, and constipation
Fu Fang Qing Dai Pills: This medicine treats vaginitis.
Huang Lian Shang Qing Pills: This medicine treats dizziness, tooth pain, tongue sores, sore throat, ear pain tinnitus, and constipation
Huang Lian Yang Gan Pills: This medicine treats red sore, eye, blurred vision
Kai Guang Fu Ming Pills: This medicine releases excess body temperature and improves eyesight
Mu Xiang Bing Lang Pills: This medicine treats constipation and abdominal pain.
Niu Huang Qian Jin Powder: This medicine reduces body temperature and detoxifies the body. It calms nerves, cures convulsion associated with a high fever.
Qin Lian Tablets: This medicine treats headache and red-eye, mouth and nose sores, hot dysentery, abdominal pain
Shen Shuai Ning Capsules: This medicine can cure poor appetite, viscous stool, nausea, vomiting.
Wan Shi Niu Huang Qing Xin Pills: This medicine can cure irritability due to high fever, lunacy and febrile convulsion in children.
Wu Mei Pills: This medicine treats limbs cold, headache, abdominal pain, vomiting, and mania.
Xiao Ke Ping Tablets: This medicine can control diabetes.
Xiang Lian Pills: This medicine treats pain, enteritis, and bacillary dysentery.
Geng Nian Xin Capsules: This medicine treats insomnia, heart palpitations, backache, dizziness, and tinnitus.
San Huang Qing Jie Pills: This medicine can cure sore throat, cough, fever, and diarrhea. [2]

Uses of Goldthread

Goldthread benefits arthritis and osteoporosis

The anti-inflammatory property of Goldthread is effective to control arthritis. Berberine present in Goldthread can improve osteoarthritis, prevent osteoporosis by promoting bone restoration and bone formation. [1]

Goldthread benefits diabetes

Goldthread improves insulin resistance and effective to reduce blood glucose levels due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant property. The active constituents of Goldthread inhibit glucose formation.[1]

Goldthread benefits in weight loss

The lipid-lowering benefit of Glodthread is effective to reduce body weight. The gold thread has multiple benefits in weight management, including

Blood lipid-lowering effect
Reduce lipid accumulation in the hepatic cell.
Increase rate of brown adipose tissue formation.
Goldthread also enhances energy expenditure [1]

Goldthread benefits in tumor protection

Goldthread has anti-tumor activity and provides tumor protection. The potent anti-tumor activity of Goldthread can arrest cell cycle followed with apoptosis. This herb also has anti-inflammatory, anti-invasion and anti-metastasis property and able to inhibit angiogenesis of the tumor affected cell. [1] The anti-tumor activity of Goldthread has a protective effect against a brain tumor. [3]

Goldthread benefits heart health

Goldthread has heart benefit and protects against many cardiac diseases, such as myocardial ischemia, cardiomyocyte hypertrophy due to its phytochemical berberine reduces myocardial ischemia-reperfusion or provide protection against cardiac tissue damage caused when blood supply returns to tissue after a period of oxygen deficiency in the tissue. [1]

Neurological protection

Goldthread regulates neurotransmitters synthesis and secretion in the central nervous system and effective to treat neurological diseases like depression, cerebral stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. [1]

Goldthread benefits liver health

Goldthread is effective to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver patients. This herb regulates lipid metabolism and reduces fat from liver tissue. Goldthread is also effective to manage enzymatic action and lipid peroxidation by up-regulating sirtuin 1 and down-regulating apoptosis-related proteins. [1]

Goldthread improves kidney functioning

Both, diabetes and a high-fat diet are harmful to kidney functioning. Nephrin and podocin are two protein molecules essential for kidney filtration. Phytochemicals present in Goldthread increases the nephrin and podocin level and also prevent kidney damage. Besides, the anti-diabetic and weight management property of Goldthread also provide renal protection.[1]

Goldthread benefits for abdomen

Goldthread is an effective herbal remedy for diarrhea. This herb improves sodium and hydrogen ion exchange and increases the absorption of sodium ion and water content. An animal study reported that Berberine present in Goldthread could control defecation and rectum swelling occurred in an inflammatory bowel disease condition. Goldthread improves antioxidant enzyme activity and prevents inflammatory mediators release. Thus, this herb improves microvilli injury. Goldthread also controls COX-2 over-expression and treat abdominal swelling and pain. [1]

Goldthread as a sunscreen

Goldthread has a protective effect against UV radiation induce-oxidative damage. [1]

Goldthread side effects

The established therapeutic dose of Goldthread is 500mg per day. Within the limited dose, this herb is well tolerated. No human study reported any serious toxic effect after using the Goldthread herb. However, in rare cases the higher dose of Goldthread can cause gastrointestinal problems like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, polyurea, increases peristaltic movement which leads to abdominal distortion, reduction of red blood cells in the blood and may cause anemia.

The safety analysis of Goldthread in pregnancy and nursing mother has not yet established, so experts do not recommend intake of Goldthread for pregnant and lactating women. However, Goldthread has no teratogenic effects on pregnancy. A few of the findings of the scientific report indicated that Goldthread can alter DNA structure due to its mutagenic property, which can cause harmful effects, but there is no universal report to support this finding. [4]

A high dose of Goldthread can cause liver and lung injury. This herb also alters the balance of gut microbiota and cause digestion problem. [1]

References

FAN-CHENG MENG ET AL. COPTIDIS RHIZOMA AND ITS MAIN BIOACTIVE COMPONENTS: RECENT ADVANCES IN CHEMICAL INVESTIGATION, QUALITY EVALUATION AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITY. CHIN MED. 2018; 13: 13. HTTPS://WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV/PMC/ARTICLES/PMC5842587/
Jin Wang et al. Coptidis Rhizoma: a comprehensive review of its traditional uses, botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology. Pharm Biol. 2019; 57(1): 193–225. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6461078/
Jiangan Li et al. Coptis Chinensis affects the function of glioma cells through the down-regulation of phosphorylation of STAT3 by reducing HDAC3. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017; 17: 524. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5719523/

Rhizoma Coptidis. WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants – Volume 1. https://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js2200e/13.html