Gotu kola (Centella asiatica)

Available either as a dried herb or herbal tincture.

Please note this is a nutritional, functional horse food supplement and not veterinary medicine. See Dr Kellon's Horse Sense - 'Nutrition is not 'Alternative' Therapy.

Tincture

Our human-grade, certified organic tinctures give you a ready-to-absorb potent source of phytonutrients at the highest-strength available, for immediate absorption straight into the bloodstream and to the body’s cells.

100% certified organic pure tincture: Centella asciatica (Gotu kola) Herb, Infused 1:3 35%, Organic Cultivated

Feed Guide

• Horse - 30-40ml / Pony - 15-20ml, daily in feed.
• Always shake the bottle to disperse any sediment.
• 3-year shelf-life.

Dried Herb

Produced to ecological standards and free from agro-chemicals.

Certified organic dried herb: Centella asciatica (Gotu kola) Herb, Organic Cultivated, Origin Sri Lanka

Feed Guide

• 5g/100kg bodyweight per day, thus for an average 500kg horse add 25g daily to feed.
• 1-year shelf-life.

Functional Nutritional Value

Constituents: Triterpene saponins, glycosides, flavonoids, volatile oils, sesquiterpenes, fatty acids, phytosterols. Other constituents include alkaloid hydrocotyline, the bitter principle vellarine, and an oligosaccharide, centellose.

NB. Our range of botanicals are all grown, harvested and dried without the use of agri-chemicals, non-irradiated and GMO free - see our Quality page for Quality Management & Certification Documents. Laboratory tested for identification and compliance to the British and European Pharmacopoeia standards, and are human grade. Please be aware that if you're purchasing our dried botanicals for human use, our dried range is cut to appropriate sizes for feeding to horses.

More ...

Gotu kola has an incredibly long documented history of medicinal use in both Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine, dating back to almost 2700 BC, finally making its way into Western herbalism by the 19th century.

In the Himalayas and in Ayurvedic practice, it's considered to be one of the most spiritual herbs, used by yogis as a meditation aid. Gotu kola is said to awaken and align the crown chakra, helping to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain. It is also one of the most important rejuvenation herbs in Ayurveda and a widely used tonic for the elderly, as it’s said to increase longevity and memory, and decrease senility and other symptoms of aging.

Gotu kola is also one the most clinically researched herbs, energetically cooling to neutral, and balancing to all constitutional types. It’s said to be effective throughout the body’s systems, with an affinity for most tissues, particularly the blood, marrow and nerves, and the nervous, circulatory and digestive systems. It is also slightly drying, and helps reduce adipose tissue that has retained toxins. Gotu kola is a specific for addressing tissue states of relaxation, atrophy, and depression, which speaks to its cooling, nourishing aspects.

Gotu kola is bitter, sweet, and slightly astringent, with a wide range of actions, working as an anti-inflammatory, nervine tonic, rejuvenative, vulnerary, alterative, diuretic, antipyretic, cardioprotective, immunostimulant, anticonvulsant and thyroid stimulant. It is also widely regarded as an adaptogen. It’s also said to improve vascular tone and protect against cardiovascular disease, increasing circulation to the brain and extremities. In traditional Chinese medicine where actions are viewed through a different lens than western herbalism, gotu kola is said to work through the liver, spleen, and kidney channels.

Traditional indications for gotu kola in Ayurvedic medicine include imbalances that are reflected in the head and brain. These include nervous disorders, epilepsy, and reduced cognition as well as premature aging and hair loss. Its cooling energetics are employed in intermittent fevers, and as an alterative, gotu kola is traditionally used for eczema, psoriasis, and other chronic skin diseases. Western use follows these same indications as well as assisting in mental fatigue and senility, reduced vitality, and high blood pressure.

Modern use of gotu kola shows a rich evidence base from clinical trials on many systems and tissues, primarily looking at nervous, integumentary, cardiovascular, immune, and musculoskeletal system effects. One of its major mechanisms is its modulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter that induces feelings of relaxation and calm.

As for its anti-aging effects on the brain, this is thought to be due to increased neuronal branching and improvement in free radical scavenging activity and resulting reduction in oxidative stress and damage, which also makes it helpful for improving cognition and memory. This, along with GABA modulation, suggests that gotu kola is a herb useful for ADD/ADHD in both children and adults.

It also has an affinity with dementia. Both in vitro research and post-mortem studies indicate gotu kola’s effectiveness in the processing of β-amyloid protein plaque, the accumulation of which is a key indicator of Alzheimer’s Disease. Gotu kola and some isolated constituents reduce plaque production, prevent apoptosis of brain cells, and reduce free radical concentrations. Gotu kola also inhibits acetylcholinesterase (AcH), which contributes both to the pathology of AD as well as cell signal transmission that contributes to seizure.

Long and short, Gotu kola is incredibly versatile - soothing wounds, burns, keloids, and other skin traumas, both externally and internally. As a vulnerary, it stimulates collagen production in skin cells, improves granulation tissue formation, and increases the tensile strength of the skin, making it an excellent post-surgical support herb. At the same time, it reduces scarring in all kinds of conditions. It’s also been shown in studies on keloid formation which have found that gotu kola inhibits the overproduction of scar tissue by reducing the inflammatory phase of scar formation while at the same time modulating certain growth factors.

We blend Gotu kola into our JSTTonic and StressTonic blends. Top tip – I personally infuse it in my morning green tea (Camellia sinensis) alongside Ginkgo biloba.

Safety

• Gotu kola is generally accepted as a gentle herb, contraindicated only where there is a known allergy, in which case it may result in contact dermatitis.
• While Brinker (1998) suggests that it can theoretically act as an emmenagogue, most sources show that the herb is safe in pregnancy.