My #momsays and science proves: Fight winter flus with giloy ka paani

If you’re stepping out in the winter and your mom doesn’t force you to add five layers of warm, fuzzy clothes on top of her much-loved thermal, and add a monkey cap to round up your Eskimo-look, is she even your mother?

And if you don’t totally defy her and step out wearing just a dress with wafer-thin stockings instead, are you even her daughter?

Well, the winter party season surely proved our mother-daughter bond and how!

As a side-effect of proving this bond, I fell sick
The usual cough, cold, running nose, heavy head, bodyache, and fever. But what was unusual about it is its recurrence just two weeks after completing my 5-day course of antibiotics very seriously.

Chill, it wasn’t anything serious! The fact that these infections have become resistant to so many drugs is a cause of concern to medical science as much as it is to my mother.

Enter: Mom’s antidote—giloy ka paani
Giloya, also known as tinospora cordifolia/ heart-leaved moonseed because of its heart-shaped leaves, was my in-house hakeem’s weapon.

She’d boil its stems in water several times and make me drink the weird-tasting liquid after straining out the stems every day for almost two weeks.

And for the gazillionth time, mom was proven right
No points for guessing, I’d make faces and even question God about his decision of sending me into this family with a dominating mother. But in the end, my fever was gone, so I had to visit the temple several times to ask for his forgiveness.

In fact, not only did the infection leave me alone for good, it even refused to make a comeback unlike last time.

Science supports mom’s remedy too
Countless studies, including the one published in the journal Ancient Science of Life, have bowed down to the infection-fighting power of water with soaked stems of tinospora—thanks to the super-strong anti-bacterial activity of the aqueous, ethanol and chloroform extracts from the stems.

Also read: Trust these 5 desi superfoods to boost your immunity this winter

In fact, this magical elixir can fight the most stubborn, drug-resistant varieties of bacteria including the ones that cause water-borne diseases like typhoid, diarrhoea as well as those that cause severe forms of fever, such as meningitis, urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, and skin and eye infections, as per a 2017 study published in the Journal of Immunology Research.

That’s not it. The study also talks about the immunity-boosting power of giloye-stem water and thus, drinking it regularly can help you prevent any diseases throughout the year for that matter.

So, if you’re experiencing frequent bouts of cold and cough, you now know what to do next.