Evidence Level
Moderate
A 2017 systematic review by Jamshidi and Cohen (Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine) analyzed 24 human studies and found that holy basil demonstrated consistent improvements in stress, anxiety, sleep, metabolic parameters, and immunity. Saxena et al. (2012) published the largest RCT to date (n=150), showing that 1200mg/day tulsi extract significantly reduced stress-related symptoms over 6 weeks. While the evidence is promising, many studies have small sample sizes and methodological limitations.