What is Brihati?

Brihati is a thorny plant in the nightshade family. Ayurveda uses its root and its small round fruit. The Latin name is Solanum indicum, now often written as Solanum violaceum.

It is best known as one of the ten roots in Dashamoola, a classic Ayurvedic blend. Practitioners give it for coughs, chest tightness, gas and weak digestion. In that system it is a warm, drying herb.

The proof is thin. Nearly all the research is lab and animal work. Human trials on Brihati on its own have not been published, so long use in tradition is not proof that it works.

How does Brihati work?

No one has shown how Brihati acts in the human body. Any account of how it works is a best guess.

In Ayurveda it is said to be warm and drying. Texts say it cuts kapha (the damp, heavy quality linked to mucus) and eases vata (the quality linked to wind, pain and spasm). That is a traditional model, not a lab finding.

Lab studies point to steroid-like plant compounds in the fruit and root. In test tubes and in animals these have loosened airway muscle, calmed swelling and slowed some germs. Effects seen in a dish or in a rat often do not carry over to people.

What forms does Brihati come in?

You will most often meet Brihati inside a formula rather than on its own. Dashamoola tea and Dashamoolarishta, a fermented tonic, are the common ones.

As a single herb it comes as dried root pieces, a fine root or fruit powder, and a water decoction (a strong tea made by boiling the root down). Some shops sell capsules and liquid extracts.

Cooked, ripe fruit is eaten as a vegetable in parts of South and Southeast Asia. Kitchen use is a food dose, not a medicine dose.

Where it comes from:

Brihati appears in the oldest Ayurvedic texts, the Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, written roughly 2,000 years ago. It sits in Dashamoola, the ten-root group used for breathing trouble, pain and recovery after birth. Siddha and some Unani writers use the plant too, but its main home is Ayurveda.

What does Brihati help with?

• Cough and chest congestion: This is the best known use. Ayurvedic texts call it a herb that thins and moves mucus. Human trials of Brihati alone for cough have not been published.
• Wheezing and asthma-type breathing trouble: Animal and test-tube work shows the plant can relax airway muscle. That has not been tested in people with asthma. Never swap it for an inhaler or any prescribed asthma medicine.
• Gas, bloating and slow digestion: Tradition treats it as a warming herb that stirs weak digestion and eases wind. The support here is classical text and practitioner habit, not trial data.
• Fever with body ache: Dashamoola blends are given in Ayurveda for fever with aches. Any effect cannot be pinned on Brihati, since these mixes hold ten roots.
• Aches and pains after childbirth (as part of Dashamoola): Dashamoolarishta is a long-standing postnatal tonic in India. There is no good human trial for the single herb, and Brihati on its own is not advised during pregnancy.
• Burning or discomfort when passing urine: Classical texts list it as a herb that increases urine flow. Burning urine can mean an infection, which needs a doctor, so do not self-treat this.

Which foods are rich in Brihati?

1. Cooked ripe Brihati berries: eaten as a vegetable in parts of India and Southeast Asia
2. Dashamoola tea: a ten-root Ayurvedic drink that includes Brihati root

Practical Tips:

Only ripe fruit that has been well cooked is eaten as food; raw green berries are not safe.

What are the side effects of Brihati?

• Nausea or stomach ache
• Burning or scratchy feeling in the mouth and throat
• Loose stools
• Dry mouth
• Headache
• Skin rash or itch in people sensitive to nightshade plants
• Vomiting, drowsiness and confusion if raw or unripe berries are swallowed

Good to know:

At normal traditional doses, most reports are mild stomach and mouth upset. Serious harm is tied to the raw, unripe berries, not to the cooked or properly prepared root.

Because no trial has tracked side effects in people, the true rate is unknown. Stop taking it and get advice if anything new or strong starts after you begin.

How much Brihati should you take?

• Recommended daily: No trial has set a safe, proven dose, so every figure below comes from traditional practice. Typical Ayurvedic amounts are 1 to 3 grams of dried root or fruit powder a day, split into two doses. A decoction usually uses 3 to 6 grams of root boiled down to about 50 to 100 ml. Start at the low end. Do not take the raw, unripe berries in any amount.
• Best time of day: Usually twice a day, morning and evening. For cough, practitioners often give the evening dose a couple of hours before bed.
• With or without food: Take it after food or with warm water. The alkaloids can sting an empty stomach.
• Time to effect: Tradition suggests a few days for digestive complaints and up to one to two weeks for a cough. No trial has measured this, so treat the timing as a rough guide.
• How long to take it: Short courses are the norm: about one to three weeks for a cough or a bout of poor digestion. Stop and see a doctor if nothing has changed after two weeks. Long daily use for months has not been studied and is not advised without a trained practitioner watching you.