Efficacy of Nardostachys jatamansi (D.Don) DC in essential hypertension: A randomized controlled study

Nardostachys jatamansi (D.Don) DC, commonly known as muskroot and Indian spikenard, is a small, perennial, flowering, rhizomatous species of the Caprifoliaceae family. Nardostachys jatamansi (D.Don) DC (Sumbul-ut-teeb) has been used in Unani Medicine since antiquity. It is one of the important drugs mentioned by Ibn-e-Sina (Avicenna) in his treatise "Kitab al-Adwiya al- Qalbiya" for cardiac diseases. The drug has been shown to exhibit anxiolytic, sedative, antispasmodic, tranquillizing, and anti hypertensive activity.

The aim of the present study was to examine the efficacy of Nardostachys jatamansi in reducing blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

The single blind randomized, placebo controlled study was conducted with 40 patients aged between 35-70 years. The participants were randomly allocated to receive either a total of 3 g of N. Jatamansi (1capsule 3 times a day) or placebo for 4 weeks. Patients using ≤ 2 antihypertensive drugs with stage 1 hypertension were included in the study. Systolic and diastolic Blood pressure was recorded at baseline and at every week for four weeks. MINICHAL score (for Quality of Life) was recorded at baseline and at the end of the trial.

After the four weeks of treatment, there was a statistically significant reduction in average systolic blood pressure 144.20 ± 11.35 mmHg (CI, 138.89-149.51) to 134.30 ± 10.08 mmHg (CI, 129.58-139.02), p < 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (94.9. ± 3.4 mmHg (CI 93.30-96.49) to 83.10 ± 5.29 mmHg (CI 80.62-85.57), p < 0.001) in the N. Jatamansi group whereas there was no significant difference in systolic blood pressure (143.40 ± 8.39 mmHg (CI, 139.47-147.33) to 142. ± 11.68 mmHg (CI, 136.53-147.47) p = 0.148) and diastolic blood pressure 95.10 ± 3.70 mmHg (CI, 93.37-96.83) to 94.80 ± 3.69 mmHg, (CI93.07-96.52) p = 0.186) in placebo group. A comparison between baseline and post treatment, MINICHAL score in N. Jatamansi group showed significant reduction 10.85 ± 1.27 (CI, 10.25-11.44) to 6.20 ± 1.77, (CI, 5.37-7.02) p < 0.001) whereas there was no significant difference in placebo group 11.05 ± 1.50 (CI, 10.34-11.75) to 10.85 ± 1.26, 95 % (CI, 10.25-11.44) p = 0.103).

The present findings suggest that N. Jatamansi is effective in reducing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in essential hypertension. Moreover studies on efficacy of different doses and treatment duration of test drug are required to finetune these observations.