The antioxidant activity of E. officinalis is attributed to the high content of ascorbic acid ⁽⁴⁾, but it was reported that such effects may be due to the tannins, Emblicanin A and Emblicanin B ⁽¹⁾. The antidiabetic property is thought to be due to the herb’s ability to reduce release of inflammatory cytokines that cause insulin resistance ⁽¹²⁾. E. officinalis may also play a role in preventing age-related hyperlipidemia by reducing nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein levels via inhibiting NF-kappa B activation ⁽¹³⁾. In another study, the herb extracts were shown to induce apoptosis in mature osteoclasts, an effect that may limit bone resorption in pathologies associated with bone loss ⁽¹⁵⁾. And a hydroalcoholic extract of E. officinalis demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects by increasing glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and catalase activities, and subsequently decreasing lipid peroxidation ⁽¹⁹⁾.

Several studies have also investigated the antitumor properties of E. officinalis. Pyrogallol, a component of E. officinalis extract, was found to cause cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase, inhibit proliferation, and induce apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma (H441) and squamous cell cancer (H520) cell lines ⁽²⁾. Intraperitoneal pyrogallol injections also suppressed subcutaneous tumor growth in mice ⁽²⁾. An aqueous extract decreased tumor volume through inhibiting the cell cycle regulating enzyme CDC25 ⁽¹⁰⁾. Progallin, extracted from E. officinalis leaves, also caused cell cycle arrest in the G1/M and G2/M phase, inhibited proliferation, and induce apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (BEL-7404) ⁽¹⁴⁾. In other studies, E. officinalis extracts were shown to inhibit cell growth both in vitro and in vivo possibly via inhibition of angiogenesis and activation of autophagy in ovarian cancer cells ⁽²⁰⁾; and demonstrated cardioprotective effects against doxorubicin toxicity in vitro ⁽³⁾, which was attributed to antioxidants.