Monograph · Apiaceae

Centella asiatica

Pegaga · Malay Pegagan · Indonesian Antanan · Indonesian Gotu kola · English

Evidence grade

Pre-clinical work or documented traditional use only

What the grades mean

AuthorBotanika Nusantara editorial (AI-assisted draft — unreviewed)

StatusUnreviewed draft — pending expert review; not medical advice

Pegaga's reputation in skin recovery rests on laboratory and animal work on its triterpenes, especially asiaticoside; the human studies that exist are small, mostly unblinded, and largely concern oral extract in clinical wound settings rather than the traditional topical use.

Safety at a glance

The evidence ladder

Systematic review

Clinical studies ← current position

Human observational

Preclinical

Laboratory

Phytochemical

Traditional use

Human studies Limited — a Phase 1 randomised trial established human pharmacokinetics for a standardised extract, and a 200-patient study used oral extract in diabetic wounds. No blinded trial of topical pegaga on recovering skin.

The ladder explains the grade; it never replaces it. Evidence for this botanical reaches clinical studies, which is why this monograph is graded C.

Traditional use

Pegaga is eaten before it is applied: the fresh leaf is a fixture of the
Malay ulam table, and the plant's standing in the region's food culture is
as well documented as its medicinal one [1]. Across Southeast and South
Asia the herb has a long record as both a leafy vegetable and a traditional
medicine, with skin complaints among the recorded uses [2]. The traditional
claim this monograph examines — that pegaga supports the skin as it
recovers — is the one the modern literature has chased hardest, and mostly
in the laboratory.

Phytochemistry

The pharmacologically interesting fraction is the pentacyclic triterpenes —
the "centelloids" — of which asiaticoside, madecassoside and their
aglycones asiatic acid and madecassic acid are the principal members [3].
Content varies widely with origin, season and preparation, and commercial
pegaga products are rarely standardised to a stated triterpene percentage,
which limits how far any study result can be generalised to another
preparation.

Evidence review

The base of the evidence is preclinical. Shukla and colleagues (1999)
showed that topical 0.2% asiaticoside increased hydroxyproline, tensile
strength and epithelialisation in rodent wound models [4], and Somboonwong
and colleagues (2012) reported similar effects for several extract types
across incision and burn wound models in rats [5].

Human data are thinner and sit in clinical wound settings, not everyday
skin care. Paocharoen (2010) reported a 200-patient study of oral centella
extract in diabetic wound patients with improved wound contraction over 21
days — an oral intervention, thinly reported, and not a topical trial [6].
Two reviews by Bylka and colleagues (2013, 2014) assemble the dermatological
and cosmetic literature and are candid that it is dominated by small and
preclinical studies [7, 8].

No adequately powered, blinded trial tests topical pegaga on recovering
skin in healthy users. That absence is the finding: the traditional use is
documented, the mechanism work is genuinely interesting, and the clinical
question remains open. Grade C.

Human data have improved at the pharmacological end rather than the
dermatological one. A Phase 1, double-blind randomised trial in
cognitively impaired older adults established pharmacokinetics and
pharmacodynamics for a standardised aqueous product [10] — the first solid
human bioavailability anchor for pegaga, though for an oral product and an
unrelated indication. Recent comprehensive reviews gather the therapeutic
literature and are consistent that the overall level of clinical evidence
remains low [11, 12].

Safety & interactions

Eaten as a vegetable, pegaga has a long record of apparently safe use.
Applied to skin, contact dermatitis to centella-derived topicals is
documented — the classic report concerns Madecassol, a concentrated
pharmaceutical extract, with positive component patch tests [9]. A patch
test before first topical use is sensible. Broken or infected skin needs
clinical care rather than a plant preparation, and data in pregnancy for
concentrated extracts are limited.

References17

Hashim P (2011). Centella asiatica in food and beverage applications and its potential antioxidant and neuroprotective effect. International Food Research Journal 18(4): 1215–1222. Source
Chandrika UG, Prasad Kumara PAAS (2015). Gotu kola (Centella asiatica): nutritional properties and plausible health benefits. Advances in Food and Nutrition Research 76: 125–157. Source
James JT, Dubery IA (2009). Pentacyclic triterpenoids from the medicinal herb, Centella asiatica (L.) Urban. Molecules 14(10): 3922–3941. Source
Shukla A, Rasik AM, Jain GK, Shankar R, Kulshrestha DK, Dhawan BN (1999). In vitro and in vivo wound healing activity of asiaticoside isolated from Centella asiatica. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 65(1): 1–11. Source
Somboonwong J, Kankaisre M, Tantisira B, Tantisira MH (2012). Wound healing activities of different extracts of Centella asiatica in incision and burn wound models: an experimental animal study. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 12: 103. Source
Paocharoen V (2010). The efficacy and side effects of oral Centella asiatica extract for wound healing promotion in diabetic wound patients. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 93(Suppl 7): S166–S170. Source
Bylka W, Znajdek-Awiżeń P, Studzińska-Sroka E, Brzezińska M (2013). Centella asiatica in cosmetology. Postępy Dermatologii i Alergologii 30(1): 46–49. Source
Bylka W, Znajdek-Awiżeń P, Studzińska-Sroka E, Dańczak-Pazdrowska A, Brzezińska M (2014). Centella asiatica in dermatology: an overview. Phytotherapy Research 28(8): 1117–1124. Source
Eun HC, Lee AY (1985). Contact dermatitis due to Madecassol. Contact Dermatitis 13(5): 310–313. Source
Tg Abdul Rahman TAF, Abd Aziz NA, Yusof NNM, Hadizam BB, Islieh ARIS (2020). Systematic literature review on Centella asiatica. Sains Insani 5(1): 135–141. Source
Mohd Shafri MA, Nazarudin AN (2022). Tajul Muluk: a traditional Malay text of ethnobotany and ethnomedicine. Borneo Journal of Resource Science and Technology 12(2): 74–81. Source
Awang-Kanak F, Abu Bakar MF, Mohamed M (2018). Ethnobotanical survey on plants used as traditional salad food (ulam) in Kampung Taun Gusi, Kota Belud Sabah, Malaysia. AIP Conference Proceedings 2002: 020024. Source
Marpaung AA, Fitmawati F, Nobis M (2025). Wild plants in traditional markets of the Jakarta Metropolitan Area and their use in Indonesian culture: an ethnobotanical survey. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 94: 1–19. Source
Sun B, Wu L, Wu Y, et al. (2020). Therapeutic potential of Centella asiatica and its triterpenes: a review. Frontiers in Pharmacology 11: 568032. Source
Hein ZM, Gopalakrishna PK, Kanuri AK, et al. (2025). Centella asiatica: advances in extraction technologies, phytochemistry, and therapeutic applications. Life 15(7): 1081. Source
Wright KM, Bollen M, David J, et al. (2022). Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of key components of a standardized Centella asiatica product in cognitively impaired older adults: a phase 1, double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Antioxidants 11(2): 215. Source
Mando Z, Mando H, Afzan A, Shaari K, Hassan Z, Mohamad Taib MNA, Zakaria F (2024). Biomarker triterpenoids of Centella asiatica as potential antidepressant agents: combining in vivo and in silico studies. Behavioural Brain Research 466: 114976. Source

Open questions3

No adequately powered, blinded randomised trial of topical pegaga on recovering skin in healthy users exists; the human data are oral-dosing studies in clinical wound settings.
Which constituent — asiaticoside, madecassoside, or whole extract, and at what standardised percentage — drives the dermal effects reported in animals is unestablished in humans.
The sensitisation rate for centella-containing topicals in Southeast Asian populations is unquantified; only sporadic case reports, mostly to concentrated pharmaceutical extracts, exist.