National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health - acquired 2026-07-23 - Traditional / Safety Reference
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EmergingBasic Entry
Herbs & Botanicals
Gotu Kola
Plants used as foods, spices, teas, or traditional supplements. Botanical effects vary by plant part, extract, dose, and medication context.
Page last reviewed: 2026-07-23 - next review due: 2027-01-23
Ayurvedatraditional botanical
Safety Flags
liver disease, sedatives, pregnancy/breastfeeding
Source Coverage
Included: US reference
Review gap: Canadian reference
Add or verify Health Canada context where an official Canadian reference exists.
Review gap: EU reference
Add or verify EFSA or EU health-claim context where an official EU reference exists.
Included: Clinical / safety source
Function
Leaf used in Ayurveda and other traditions for skin, circulation, and cognitive contexts.
Natural Sources
Centella asiatica leaves.
Food vs Supplement Context
Natural sources describe where this item appears in foods, culinary ingredients, or traditional preparations. Concentrated supplements can differ by dose, extract type, preparation, standardization, and medication context, so they should be evaluated separately.
Testing & Monitoring Context
- No routine lab test establishes a required daily need for most foods and bioactives; monitoring is usually based on the intended outcome, dose, medical history, and adverse effects.
- Liver-safety context: liver enzymes and symptoms such as dark urine, jaundice, severe fatigue, or abdominal pain need medical review.
- Sedation context: watch for next-day drowsiness, impaired driving, alcohol overlap, or sedating medication combinations.
Suggested Guidelines When Purchasing
What to look for: For botanicals, plant part, extract ratio, standardization marker, preparation type, and medication cautions matter more than the herb name alone.
Use caution or avoid: Avoid casual use when these flags apply: liver disease, sedatives, pregnancy/breastfeeding.
- Prefer ordinary food sources first when they provide the intended compound in a practical way.
- For supplements, require clear labeling of active ingredient, dose per serving, serving size, and other ingredients.
- Prefer products with third-party testing or transparent contaminant testing, especially for concentrated extracts, algae, mushrooms, minerals, and sports products.
- Do not let marketing claims override the evidence, safety flags, source coverage, or dose context on this page.
Intake Guidance
No official DRI
No official RDA, AI, or RDI has been established for this bioactive as a required daily intake.
Evidence Summary
Claim-level study review has not been added yet for this item. Treat this as a basic catalog entry until evidence claims are reviewed.
Evidence Legend
Established use: Supported by official guidance, regulatory claim context, strong consensus, or repeated human evidence for a specific use.
Promising: Human studies or reviews suggest benefit for specific outcomes, but evidence is not broad enough to treat as settled general guidance.
Emerging: Early human, mechanistic, or mixed evidence; worth tracking, but not strong enough for confident user-facing claims.
Traditional use: Historically or traditionally used, but modern clinical evidence may be limited, mixed, or product-specific.
Category example: Included to describe a supplement or food category, not because a strong health claim is attached yet.
Research Links
Use this as a research discovery link. Search results are live and may change, so curated sources on this page remain the fixed references for app content.
Search term: Gotu Kola supplementation human studies systematic review
Sources
U.S. Food and Drug Administration - acquired 2026-07-23 - Government Health Agency
U.S. Department of Agriculture - acquired 2026-07-23 - Food Database