Balance Tinospora (giloya) is also referred to as the “heavenly elixir.” According to Indian legend, it kept the angels eternally young. Recent articles in the Woman's World and Prevention magazines describe a lab study conducted in 2004 at Miami Children's Hospital that showed Tinospora contains a special polysaccharide, or carbohydrate, that triggers activity of macrophages, the white blood cells that play a key role in immunity.

Scientists at Indira Gandhi Medical College in Nagpur, India, recently investigated 71 people with allergic rhinitis - hay fever.  Participants  took  300 mg of Tinospora or a placebo three times a day for eight weeks  and recorded how much sneezing, nasal discharge, itchiness,and congestion they experienced.  By the end of the study, 83% of  the  Tinospora group had stopped sneezing, and more than two-thirds said their  noses had stopped running or cleared completely; 71%  said their noses were no longer itchy.  In the placebo group, just  11% reported less sneezing.  Sinuses had cleared in 17%, and only 12% recorded itch-free noses.