RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 107, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2014 1859 *For correspondence. (e-mail: padma.venkat@frlht.org) Amla (Phyllanthus emblica L.) enhances iron dialysability and uptake in in vitro models Padma Venkatasubramanian*, Indu Bala Koul, Reeja Kochuthekil Varghese, Srividya Koyyala and Arun Shivakumar Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, No. 74/2, Jarakbande Kaval, Post: Attur, Via Yelahanka, Bangalore 560 106, India Phyllanthus emblica L. (Indian gooseberry or amla) is a well-known dietary supplement (Rasayana) in Ayurveda used in the management of iron deficiency anaemia (Pandu). Amla is said to act by regulating the ‘metabolic fire’ (agni), which is important for proper digestion and absorption of nutrients. In the present study standard cell-free and cell-based models that are employed in biomedical sciences to study digestion and bioavailability of nutrients were used to examine the influence of amla fruit juice on iron dialysability and uptake. Amla juice contained 0.35% ascorbic acid (AA), 0.33% tannins (gallic acid equivalent), 0.13% gallic acid, 0.58% total organic acid and 0.002% iron on a w/w basis. Amla juice exhibited a dose response to iron dialysability with an optimum at 1 : 0.25 molar ratio of Fe : amla juice (AA equivalent) in the cell-free digestion model and 1 : 0.5 in both Caco-2 and HepG2 cell lines. Amla juice increased the dialysable iron three times more than the FeSO 4 alone control in the cell-free digestion model. Iron uptake in Caco-2 and HepG2 cell lines increased 17.18 and 18.71 times more than the control respectively, in the presence of amla juice. AA, a known Fe bioavailability enhancer, at the same molar ratios showed an enhancement only by 1.45 times in the cell-free model and 13.01 and 12.48 times in the Caco-2 and HepG2 models respectively. As a dietary supplement that enhances iron dialysabi- lity and uptake, amla fruits can be explored further as a low-cost intervention in the management of iron deficiency anaemia. Keywords: Anaemia, amla, iron bioavailability, in vitro digestion model. IRON deficiency anaemia (IDA) is the result of long-term negative iron balance and is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. It is the only nutrient deficiency which is prevalent both in industrialized as well as devel- oping nations, particularly where diets are based on cereals and legumes 1 . According to the biomedical understand- ing, mainly three factors determine the amount of iron absorbed from the diet, namely the amount of iron in- gested, its availability for absorption in the body, and iron status of the individual. Bioavailability represents integration of processes whereby an ingested nutrient becomes available for digestion, absorption, transport, utilization and elimination 2 . The amount of ingested iron that is available for use in metabolic processes or deposi- tion in storage forms like ferritin is a key factor in iron nutrition 3 . The bioavailability of iron can be significantly influenced by the presence of factors such as organic acids and phytates in food that may enhance or reduce its absorption and utilization. L-Ascorbic acid (AA) or vita- min C for example is a known iron bioavailability enhan- cer, while phytates in cereals and legumes impair absorption of native iron from foods as well as from soluble and poorly soluble iron salts 4 . Understanding the world views of traditional medical systems can help us gain new insights into disease diag- nosis, etiology and management. IDA is correlated to a disease entity called Pandu in Ayurveda, an Indian medi- cal system 5 . According to Ayurveda, one of the important causes of IDA is the derangement in jataragni, the diges- tive and absorptive ‘fire’ in the body due to which the nutrients are not absorbed. Jataragni , in turn is balanced by pachakapitta, the pitta that drives metabolic processes in the proximal gastrointestinal tract. Pitta is one of the three humors that control all metabolic transformations in the body 6 . Undigested or partially digested food by the deranged agni (~metabolism) causes the production of ama (~undigested materials) that blocks natural assimila- tive and eliminative processes. This is the root cause of most diseases 7 . One of the large-scale programmes to control IDA in modern times has been medicinal supplementation with iron (ferrous sulphate) and folic acid, which has not had much success 8 . One of the reasons for this could be that the iron is not properly assimilated by the body. In classi- cal Ayurvedic texts, there is rich information on the man- agement of Pandu using Rasayana herbs that ‘enhance agni’ (agnivardhaka). Rasayana is a branch of Ayurveda that explains methods to nourish body tissues ( dhatu) by optimizing metabolism and eliminating wastes thus main- taining good health 9 . Phyllanthus emblica L. (Euphor- biaceae), commonly known as amla, is one such Rasayana which is used in the management of Pandu 10 . It is also used as an acidulant, diuretic and in the treatment of dysentery, jaundice, skin conditions, eye diseases and diabetes 11 . We hypothesize that certain Rasayana herbs like amla which are said to play a role in digestion and absorption can enhance the dialysability and uptake of iron. This could be one of the reasons why in the Ayurvedic mana- gement of Pandu, amla is used as a dietary supplement (pathya) and in drug formulations. For example, Dhatri loham is a herbo-mineral formulation containing amla and other herbs along with iron that is used for treating Pandu 12 . The present study investigates the effect of phyto- chemically standardized amla fruit juice on dialysability