A comprehensive review on the ethno-medicinal and pharmacological properties of Terminalia chebula fruit

Terminalia chebula, commonly known as black myrobalan, ink tree and Chebulic myrobalan is a deciduous tree belonging to the family Combretaceae. It is native to the tropical region with the highest occurrence in the South East Asian regions. The plant exhibits a wide spectrum of biological activity due to its phytochemicals such as polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenes, anthocyanins and glycosides. The fruit of T. chebula has been used in several traditional medicinal practices such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha for the treatment of different diseases and ailments including chronic diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, constipation, asthma, ulcer, haemorrhoids, cold and cough. The plant has been well reported in the current literature to possess anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-arthritic, anti-cancerous, anti-diabetic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, hypo-cholesterolemic, anti-plasmodial, antinociceptive, antiulcerogenic and anti-spermatogenic properties. However, comprehensive reviews on the broad spectrum of bioactivity of this plant are limited in literature. Therefore, this review was designed to critically analyse and summarise the current ethno-medicinal and pharmacological evidence on T. chebula. Owing to its bioactivity, T. chebula possesses great potential to include in modern drug discovery. However, further pre-clinical and clinical studies are warranted for its prospective pharmaceutical applications.