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.