The Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Tulsi in Humans: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Table 2

Effect of tulsi on immune system and viral infections in human clinical trials.

Clinical; domain	Authors; (year)	Study design	Jadad; score	Participants (age range)	Tulsi; extract	Intervention		Comparator	Outcome; measure(s)	Adverse; events (s)
						Duration	Dosage
Immunomodulation	Venu Prasad (2014) [76]	Randomized,; placebo-controlled; clinical trial	3	30 healthy; adults; (18–30 years)	Ethanolic; tulsi leaves; in Bar^‡	2 weeks	1 bar × 2/day; (1000 mg tulsi)	Not described; “control bar”	↑physical performance; ↓fatigue and CK levels; less increase in lactic acid	None
	Mondal^† et al. (2011) [77]	Randomized,; double-blind,; placebo-controlled; cross-over	5	22 healthy; adults; (22–37 years)	Ethanolic; tulsi leaves	4 weeks; (+3 weeks wash out)	300 mg/day	Cellulose; 300 mg/day	Increased cytokine level,; interferon-ϒ,  & interleukin-4	None
	Sharma (1983) [78]	Open clinical trial	1	20 adults,; asthma	Aqueous; tulsi leaves; tablets	1 week	500 mg × 3/day	None	Relief within 3 days,; improved vital capacity	None
Viral infections	Rajalakshmi et al. (1986) [79]	Clinical trial	0	20 cases,; viral hepatitis; (10–60 years)	Aqueous; extract fresh; tulsi leaves	2 weeks for; mild cases; 3 weeks for; Severe cases	10 g daily	None	Symptoms all improved; within 2 weeks	None
	Das et al. (1983) [80]	Randomized; clinical trial; parallel-controlled	1	14 adults,; viral; encephalitis	Aqueous; extract fresh; tulsi leaves	4 weeks	2.5 g; 4 times/day	12 mg/day; dexamethasone; treated group	Increased survival rate; compared to steroid	Not; reported

CK = creatine kinase; TPE = tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.
Intervention duration included wash-out periods where applicable until study was completed.
Participants include both control and intervention groups completing the study and excluded any drop-outs.
^†Same results as previously published (Mondal et al., 2010).
^‡Tulsi enriched bar: each 25 g bar contained oats, resin, peanuts, skimmed milk powder, sugar, and honey and 0.5% ethanolic tulsi.