There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of amla, right? We hadn’t either until recently, if we’re being honest. But while the data is just starting to take shape, there’s some interesting potential with this little green Indian gooseberry. And most of it revolves around lowering cholesterol very quickly.
It’s been known as an Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. And Ayurvedic just means “ancient medicine in India” in case you missed the Ayurvedic day in school. But there’s a little modern clinical data that is starting to back it’s ancient healthful claims. Mostly around lowering cholesterol. In a pretty small study from 2011, 2-3 grams of amla popweder daily for 21 days lowered total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides while improving HDL. And then in 2023 a randomized trial also supported the lowering of lipids in blood. But we must stress, there’s not enough data out there to say that this definitely works. More data is needed, but what we’ve seen has shown some promise!
The Short Answer
If you have elevated LDL and want a non-pharmaceutical option to discuss with your doctor, amla powder is the most evidence-backed plant intervention available. The dose is roughly half a teaspoon (about two grams) of organic amla powder, daily, mixed into water or a smoothie. Give it three weeks. Most people see meaningful changes within that window.
Importantly, amla is not a replacement for a statin if you are already on one. It is a supplement to discuss with the doctor managing your lipids.
What Each Form Actually Tastes Like
Plain amla powder is sour and astringent. Half a teaspoon dissolves into water without much fuss. Some people mix it into a daily green smoothie or stir it into yogurt. The taste fades fast, especially when paired with citrus or berries. So the powder remains the simplest, cheapest, and most studied form.
Amla capsules skip the taste entirely. They cost a bit more per dose and the gelatin or vegetarian capsule shells add a small amount of inert material. However, for travel and consistency, capsules tend to win for people who would otherwise forget the daily dose.
Chyawanprash, the traditional Ayurvedic jam, is amla cooked with honey, ghee, and warming spices like cardamom and cinnamon. It is delicious. A teaspoon spread on toast or stirred into warm milk delivers the daily dose. However, it does contain added sugar from honey, so factor that in if you are managing blood sugar.
For fresh fruit, Indian grocery stores sometimes stock amla in season. The whole fruit is the form Ayurveda traditionally used, but it is hard to find outside major metro areas. Frozen amla works if you can find it.
I’ve never tried it, but from what I’ve read amla is extremely sour when you bite into it, and then after a few minutes it leaves you with a surprisingly sweet aftertaste. Ayurvedic texts have a word for that after-effect — vipaka, the post-digestive taste — and amla’s is classed as sweet even though the fruit itself is sour.
The amla cholesterol research, summarized
The 28% drop in LDL is a huge number. And sometimes when we see numbers this drastic it really makes you question the findings even more. Because you think, well, if it’s this profound of movement in your LDL, why would we only be finding out about this now. Or were there some outliers that skewed the data set? You can’t know yet because the data is too small and early. But that doesn’t mean you just totally write it off. But you shouldn’t expect anything to be a silver bullet.
The Original 28% Finding
The number that gets quoted everywhere comes from a 2011 study published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition by researchers at the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The team gave normal volunteers and type 2 diabetic patients half a teaspoon of amla powder daily for 21 days. Then they measured total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, and HDL before and after.
In the normal-cholesterol group, total cholesterol dropped by about 28% over the three weeks. LDL dropped similarly. Triglycerides also fell, and HDL went up. The effect was even more pronounced in the diabetic group. Importantly, this is a study with measured biomarkers and a clear protocol, not folk wisdom.
I would definitely take this. First, it’s a fruit, so the downside is almost zero. The worst case scenario is that it does nothing. And trying it out is all you need to do to see if it works. The fact that it is an ancient remedy is always appealing. It’s sort of like the Blue Zones. They have been living longer and better for centuries. They don’t have gyms or supplements. They have just figured it out. I’ve heard Michael Pollan say the same thing. The nonnas figured out how to put foods together that have a way of being greater than the sum of their parts. So ancient remedy plus real world data is a sweet spot for something worth trying.
The Simvastatin Comparison
This is the study that really got our attention. In 2012, researchers in India ran a head-to-head clinical comparison betwee statins and amla powder. Patients with high cholesterol were randomized into two groups. One received amla extract and the other received simvastatin, the active ingredient in Zocor and a widely-prescribed statin.
After six months, both groups showed similar reductions in total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides. HDL improved in the amla group somewhat more. The headline takeaway: at the doses used, amla extract matched simvastatin’s lipid-lowering effects in this patient group. In laymen’s terms this means that the amla powder went head-to-head against one of the most popular pharmaaceuticals and it essentially matched it. The question you have to ask yourself is would you take a supplement or a drug?
Again, this isn’t to say that it is equal to it over the long term. There’s not enough data. But this is why we think it’s worth monitoring. And if you’re considering taking it check in with your doctor to see if there’s any reasn you should not.
As we’ve said, the data here is thin. A 21 day trial shouldn’t tell us much. But if this is that impactful that quickly then you should be buying up as much amla-related stock that you can (that is a joke, and this is not financial advice). But as we’ve said a few times, this data is early. There’s a lot of holes to poke in it, but the 28% lower LDL at least gives us hope that it can have some kind of positive impact, even if the 28% number ends up being overstated.
The 2023 Meta-Analysis Confirms It
The strongest evidence for amla’s benefits comes from a 2023 piece published in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome. The authors pooled data from multiple randomized controlled trials. The conclusion: amla supplementation significantly reduces LDL and triglycerides while raising HDL. The effect is consistent across studies.
Meta-analyses are the highest tier of clinical evidence because they aggregate across populations and protocols. So when a meta-analysis confirms the lipid-lowering effect, the finding is more robust than any single trial.
We always treat any study with caution before it goes through the scientific rigor of a Phase 3 clinical trial. And even then you want to be careful if it’s new. But research is important, even at the early stages. We just need to make sure we’re framing the amount of data we have. Nothing is certain by any means yet. But good results can be promising.
The One Real Caveat
Amla has been studied for possible thyroid effects in animal models. One mouse study found that amla extract reduced T3 and T4 hormone levels in hyperthyroid mice at relatively high doses. So far, this has not been replicated in humans at typical supplementation doses.
Still, if you are taking levothyroxine or another thyroid medication, talk to your doctor before adding daily amla. The interaction is theoretical at the moment, but worth flagging. Pregnant or breastfeeding individuals should also consult a clinician before starting any new supplement.
Amla powder is not a food in our opinion. It’s a supplement. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying along with other whole foods that can help with cholesterol issues. We never want perfect to be the enemy of the good.
Why Amla and Not Just Any Antioxidant Berry
Everyone’s cramming as many antioxidants into their meals these days. And while Amla is one of the most antioxidant-rich whole foods on Earth, there’s more to it than that. It seems to be a combination of high antioxidants with a very specific polyphenol called emblicanin A and B that researchers speculate could be the trigger for lowering cholesterol. If it was just antioxidants, then blueberries (also high in antioxidants) would have the same effect. But they don’t. If you’re already adding antioxidants to your diet, why not try one more for a month and see what happens?
We won’t know exactly who this is for until we get more data. But a lot of people (myself included) have high cholesterol but don’t want to go on a statin. I have family members who have been on statins forever and they have fantastic cholesterol numbers, so they would likely have no need for amla. But if someone actually does have high cholesterol and is weighing the options for pharmaceuticals, they may want to try something a little more natural first. If you brought this to your doctor, we’re pretty sure they would say exactly what we’re saying. Interesting findings, and worth keeping an eye on, but nothing is for sure yet. And they would know if there’s any reason you should NOT take an amla powder supplement. That’s where your doctor can come in handy. If there’s no harm in it, then what’s the harm in running your own personal trial. Take it for a month and then get your blood drawn and see if it’s had any effect on your LDL.
What three weeks of amla actually does
Amla is one of the most evidence-backed natural supplements for cholesterol. The studies are real, the meta-analysis confirms the effect, and the dose is small and cheap. Half a teaspoon of organic amla powder daily, for three weeks, is the protocol that produced the 28% finding. Talk to your doctor first if you take thyroid medication or are already on a statin. Otherwise, it is one of the easier and more legitimate additions to a heart-health-focused routine.
When it comes to the “ancient remedy validated by science” genre, we love it. It’s great when those two north stars align. But we always like to provide context for the findings, too. How much turmeric do you have to consume for it to have the positive benefit? There was a study a while back that the resveratrol in red wine was actually good for you. But in truth, the amount of resveratrol in red wine was such a tiny amount that you would have to drink a ton of it (which would not be healthy!) to get those benefits. We always need to be vigilant about putting the context around the data that we find. If you are looking to buy this, make sure you are purchasing it from a very reputable seller. A well known and respected brand with great reviews. I would caution against buying it from a random Amazon seller. Amazon doesn’t do the best job of vetting what they are selling and we’ve heard many horror stories of supplements coming from other countries that don’t have the regulations we do. And sometimes you can end up buying supplements with zero of the advertised ingredients. So just make sure you are getting it from a vetted resource. The supplement industry has a lot of problems. There’s little to no regulations. And a lot of it is marketing. But if there’s any data you can hang your hat on, then it’s worth at least considering. And the short time frame of this study is actually in your benefit. You can literally know if it has had any impact on your LDL in a month. If it works, then wow, fantastic. If it doesn’t you can skip it altogether until a new study comes out that provides more information on what potential other factors contributed to the drop. But as always, make sure you get it from a vetted supplier who has been selling amla powder with great reviews and a great reputation.
Dr. Nicole Wanner is a veterinarian and published scientific researcher. She shares her home with Sylvie and Nemo, a brother and sister pair of former barn kittens she adopted with her partner Evan in 2014.
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