Amla water - a clear glass infuser bottle with a steel mesh infuser holding sliced amla in pale green water, beside whole and halved fresh amla (Indian gooseberry) on a wooden board in morning kitchen light

Amla Water Benefits: Boiled vs Soaked Overnight, Vitamin C Loss, and How to Make It

May 1, 2026

By Saran Reddy · Founder, InstaCuppa · 12 min read · Last updated: September 15, 2026

Short answer: amla water benefits come from one thing: amla is one of the richest vitamin C foods in the Indian food tables, at 252 mg per 100 g against 42.72 mg for orange pulp. Raw fruit keeps the most. Soaking overnight moves part of it into the water. Boiling destroys a share, but the water you drink catches what leaked out of the fruit. The human trials behind the big health claims used grams of powder or extract every day, not a glass of soaked water. So drink it for the taste and the vitamin C, eat the fruit too, and skip the miracle talk.

In this article

What amla water is, and what the numbers say
Boiled amla vs raw vs soaked: which is better?
Does boiling amla destroy its vitamin C?
Amla soaked in water overnight: what moves into the water
Amla powder and dried amla in hot water
What human trials actually found
Who should be careful
How to make amla water: 3 methods
Fresh amla: season, varieties, what to buy
Amla in Indian languages
Questions people ask

Most people who search for amla water want one of three things. Is boiled amla or raw amla better? What happens when you soak amla overnight? And does the vitamin C survive? This guide answers those first, with the sources. Then it looks at what the human trials really tested. Then it shows three ways to make it.

What Amla Water Is, and What the Numbers Say

Short answer: amla water is plain water in which fresh or dried amla has been soaked or boiled. The ICMR-NIN food tables list fresh amla at 252 mg of vitamin C per 100 g. The adult daily need is 80 mg for men and 65 mg for women. So 100 g of fresh amla carries about three days of vitamin C for a man. The water gets a part of that. The fruit keeps the rest.

Amla is the Indian gooseberry, Emblica officinalis. Tamil homes call it nellikkai. Telugu homes say usirikaya. In Kerala it is nellikka. It is a small, round, pale green fruit with faint ridges and one hard seed. It tastes sour first and sweet after. That sweet after-taste is why a sip of water after chewing amla tastes so pleasant.

The vitamin C figure matters, so here it is from the primary source. The Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 from ICMR-NIN list gooseberry under code E021. Total ascorbic acid is 252 mg per 100 g of edible fruit. Orange pulp, code E047, has 42.72 mg. Amla also has 7.75 g of dietary fibre per 100 g. Orange has 1.29 g.

Per 100 g, fresh (IFCT 2017)	Amla, E021	Orange pulp, E047
Vitamin C (total ascorbic acid)	252 mg	42.72 mg
Dietary fibre	7.75 g	1.29 g
Carbohydrate	4.39 g	7.92 g
Energy	99 kJ	156 kJ
Moisture	87.02 g	89.61 g

The "hundreds of milligrams per fruit" claim. Many pages, including an earlier version of this one, print a very large vitamin C figure for a single amla. It does not match the national food table. IFCT 2017 gives 252 mg per 100 g of fruit, and one amla weighs far less than 100 g. A review in Antioxidants (2022) found reported values from 193 to 720 mg per 100 g across varieties and studies. Even the highest of those is per 100 g, not per fruit.

The ICMR-NIN RDA 2020 sets the vitamin C requirement at 80 mg a day for adult men and 65 mg for adult women. Set that against 252 mg per 100 g and the picture is clear. You do not need a lot of amla. You need a little of it often. That is exactly what amla water gives you, if you also eat the fruit.

Boiled Amla vs Raw vs Soaked: Which Is Better?

Short answer: raw fruit, chewed, keeps the most vitamin C. Soaked amla comes next, because nothing is heated. Boiled amla loses a share to heat, but if you drink the water and eat the fruit you keep most of what is left. The worst option is boiling for a long time and throwing the fruit away. No lab has measured a home pot of boiled amla. The numbers below come from vegetables cooked the same way.

Vitamin C dissolves in water and breaks down with heat. Both facts are why boiling changes things. The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 put it plainly: B complex vitamins and vitamin C may be lost if the cooking water after boiling is discarded. With amla water, the cooking water is the drink. So the leak is not a loss. The heat is.

How big is the heat loss? We do not have an amla study, and we will not invent one. We do have careful vegetable studies. A 1993 study in broccoli found boiling for five minutes kept 45 to 64% of the vitamins measured, while steaming kept 83 to 100%. A 2010 study in green beans found normal cooking in water left 50.4% of the total ascorbic acid in the drained beans, and 13.5 to 42.8% of the nutrients had leaked into the cooking water. The authors added that including the cooking water in the dish raises the nutrient level of the meal.

Method	What happens to vitamin C	How sure we are	Best for
Raw fruit, chewed	Nothing is lost	Direct food table value (IFCT 2017)	Most vitamin C
Soaked overnight, drink + eat	Part moves into the water; the rest stays in the fruit	No study of the home soak exists	Taste, gentle on the stomach
Boiled 5 minutes, drink + eat	Heat destroys a share; the leak lands in your cup	Vegetable studies, not amla	A warm winter drink
Boiled long, fruit thrown	Heat loss, plus the fruit's share goes in the bin	Vegetable studies	Nothing. Avoid
Dried or powder in warm water	Drying already lowered it; hot water lowers it more	Depends on the drying method; no number we trust	Off-season

So the answer to "boiled amla or raw amla, which is better?" is raw, then soaked, then boiled. But boiled is not bad. A short boil with the lid on, the water drunk warm and the soft fruit eaten, is a perfectly good winter habit. Just do not simmer it for half an hour.

Does Boiling Amla Destroy Its Vitamin C?

Short answer: some of it, not all of it. Heat breaks vitamin C down, and longer boiling breaks down more. The fibre and minerals in the fruit are not affected. Keep the boil short and drink the water to keep the loss small.

Two things happen in the pot. First, vitamin C leaks out of the fruit into the water. Second, heat destroys a part of it wherever it is. The first is not a problem if you drink the water. The second is the real loss. In the green bean study above, the leak alone was 13.5 to 42.8% of the nutrients. That is the part amla water rescues.

We looked for a peer-reviewed measurement of vitamin C in a home pot of boiled amla. We did not find one. So we are not going to print a percentage for amla itself, and we suggest you distrust any page that does without naming a study. The safe rules are simple. Five minutes, not thirty. Lid on. Drink it. Eat the fruit.

Kitchen rule from the national guidelines. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 say vitamin C may be lost if the cooking water after boiling is discarded. Amla water turns that rule on its head. The water is the point. Never pour it away.

Amla Soaked in Water Overnight: What Actually Moves Into the Water

Short answer: vitamin C dissolves in water, so an overnight soak pulls part of it out of the cut fruit into your bottle. Amla also carries gallic acid, ellagic acid and tannins, and cut fruit gives up some of those too. Nobody has measured a home soak, so treat the water as a light dose and eat the soaked pieces for the rest.

Soaking is the gentlest method. Nothing is heated, so nothing is destroyed. The trade-off is that cold water pulls out less than hot water does. The 2022 Antioxidants review lists what amla holds: ascorbic acid, gallic acid, ellagic acid and a family of ellagitannins that includes emblicanin A and B. Some of that will move into the water overnight. Most of it stays in the fruit. That is why we keep saying eat the pieces.

Fresh amla or dried? Both work. Fresh gives a pale, clean, sour water. Dried amla, the brown wrinkled pieces sold as sukha amla, gives a darker, tangier water with a slight bitterness. Dried amla has already lost part of its vitamin C in drying, so fresh wins when you can get it.

From our own range

InstaCuppa Borosilicate Glass Infuser Bottle, 1 L

A full-length steel mesh infuser holds the amla wedges, so you sip clear water all day and nothing floats into your mouth. Glass does not hold the sour taste. Wide mouth, so the wedges go in and the bottle rinses clean at night. Black lid, 1000 ml.

Rs 1,599 on instacuppastore.com

See the infuser bottle

One more honest point. Soaking amla in a water bottle and sipping it through the day is a good habit for one reason above all: you drink more water. The vitamin C is a bonus. If the sour taste makes you reach for the bottle more often, the bottle has done its job. Our infuser bottle guide covers what else works in one.

Amla Powder and Dried Amla in Hot Water

Short answer: amla powder in warm water is the off-season version. Use warm water, not boiling, stir well and drink it with the sediment. Drying lowers vitamin C, and how much depends on how the fruit was dried, so we do not print a number for powder. Buy from a brand that prints a batch date and keep the pack sealed.

The National Horticulture Board notes how amla is sorted after harvest. The large fruits go to murabba and candy, the small ones to chyawanprash and triphala, and the blemished fruits to powder. That is not a bad thing, but it tells you powder is a by-product of the trade. Quality varies. A sealed pack from a brand that dates its batches is worth the extra rupees.

To make it, put half a teaspoon of powder in a glass, add warm water, stir and wait two minutes. The powder settles. Stir again and drink. Warm water, not boiling, because heat is what breaks vitamin C. If the taste is too sharp, a squeeze of lemon oddly makes it easier, not harder. Off-season, this is the honest way to keep amla in your routine.

What Human Trials Actually Found (and What They Used)

Short answer: the trials used measured daily doses of amla powder, extract or syrup for three to twelve weeks. The best evidence is for blood sugar and cholesterol. Blood vessel function has one good trial. Hair has one small trial with a syrup. We found no trial of amla taken by mouth for skin. None of them tested a glass of soaked water.

This is the part most amla pages skip. "Benefits" pages list immunity, hair, skin, digestion and more, and cite nothing. Here is what the human research actually says, with the dose and the form, so you can judge whether a glass of amla water gets you there.

Claim	Best human evidence	What people took	Honest reading
Blood sugar	Akhtar 2011: fasting and post-meal glucose fell in normal and diabetic volunteers. Setayesh 2023 meta-analysis of five RCTs: fasting glucose fell.	1, 2 or 3 g amla powder a day for 21 days	Real effect at gram doses of powder. Not measured for soaked water.
Cholesterol	Brown 2023 meta-analysis: nine RCTs, 535 participants. LDL fell by a mean 15.08 mg/dL; triglycerides by 22.35 mg/dL.	500 to 1500 mg a day of fruit powder or extract	Consistent direction. The authors say to read it with caution because the trials differ.
Blood vessel function	Usharani 2019: randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 59 people with metabolic syndrome. Endothelial function improved at 8 and 12 weeks.	250 mg or 500 mg aqueous extract twice daily for 12 weeks	One good trial, standardised extract.
Hair	Akhbari 2024: triple-blind RCT, sixty women with pattern hair loss. Anagen-to-telogen ratio rose versus placebo.	10 ml amla syrup three times a day for 12 weeks	One small trial, syrup form. Not soaked water.
Iron	DGI 2024: vitamin C rich fruits improve iron absorption from plant foods when eaten with the meal. Amla is on the guidelines' vitamin C list.	Fruit with a meal	Solid mechanism. Eat the amla with dal or leafy greens.
Anaemia (Ayurveda)	AYU 2015: 25 anaemic patients, Amalaki Rasayana versus iron tablets for 45 days. Some blood indices improved.	2 g Amalaki Rasayana three times a day	Tiny trial. Interesting, not proof.
Skin	No trial of amla taken by mouth for skin that we could find.	—	Vitamin C matters for skin, but "glow" is not a measured outcome.
Immunity	DGI 2024 names amla among the fresh foods where vitamin C is abundant.	Food	Enough vitamin C matters. Extra beyond need is not "boosting".

Notice the pattern. Every trial used a measured daily dose, in grams of powder or hundreds of milligrams of extract, for weeks. A glass of soaked water is a much lighter thing. It is a fine daily habit. It is not the trial dose. If you want the trial dose, eat the fruit, or talk to a doctor about a standardised product.

For the fuller story on the fruit itself, our amla juice benefits guide and its companion piece go deeper. For other vitamin C drinks, see vitamin C juice. And if hair is your real question, protein for hair growth covers the part of the diet that matters more than any single fruit.

Who Should Be Careful With Amla Water

Short answer: ask your doctor first if you take blood thinners, diabetes medicine, or are pregnant. A small crossover trial found amla extract prolonged bleeding and clotting time, alone and with clopidogrel or aspirin. Amla also lowers blood sugar on its own, so it can add to your medicine. If it gives you acidity, drink it after food.

The blood-thinner point comes from a 2014 crossover study in ten people with type 2 diabetes. A 500 mg amla extract cut platelet aggregation, and bleeding and clotting time got longer, both on its own and together with clopidogrel or ecosprin. The authors called it a significant antiplatelet effect. A glass of soaked water is far weaker than 500 mg of extract, but if you are on such medicine, this is a conversation to have, not a guess to make.

The blood sugar point comes from the 2011 powder trial above. Amla lowered glucose in people who were already diabetic. If you take metformin or insulin, a daily amla habit could add to the effect. Tell your doctor, and watch for low-sugar signs. And a plain kitchen note: amla is sour. If it bothers your stomach on an empty morning, have it after breakfast. Rinse your mouth with plain water after, as you would with any sour drink.

A quick note: This article shares general food and wellness information for Indian readers. It is not medical advice. Bodies differ. If you are pregnant, unwell, or managing a health condition, please ask your doctor before making changes.

How to Make Amla Water: 3 Methods

Short answer: soak it overnight for the gentlest water, boil it for five minutes for a warm winter drink, or stir powder into warm water off-season. In every case, drink the water and eat the fruit. Two or three amla per 500 ml is plenty.

Method 1: Soaked overnight (fresh amla)

Wash two or three fresh amla well. Cut each into wedges along the ridges and take out the seed.
Drop the wedges into a glass infuser bottle or a covered jar.
Fill with 500 ml of drinking water. Close the lid.
Keep it in the fridge for 8 to 12 hours.
Drink in the morning. Eat the wedges. Rinse the bottle and infuser.

Method 2: Boiled (fresh amla, five minutes)

Cut two amla into wedges, seed removed.
Bring 500 ml of water to a boil in a small pan. Add the wedges.
Boil for five minutes with the lid on. Not longer.
Pour the water into a cup. Let it cool until it is comfortable to sip.
Drink it, and eat the soft wedges. A pinch of black salt suits it.

Method 3: Dried amla or powder (off-season)

For dried pieces: soak four or five pieces in 500 ml of water overnight, like Method 1.
For powder: put half a teaspoon in a glass and add warm water.
Stir, wait two minutes, stir again and drink with the sediment.
Warm water, not boiling. Heat is what breaks vitamin C.

From our own range

InstaCuppa Cold Brew Jug 2.2 L with Fine Mesh Filter

For a family batch. The removable fine nylon mesh filter holds the amla wedges while 2 litres of water infuses in the fridge overnight. Airtight lid, leak-proof spout, measurement markings on the side. Made for cold brew coffee; works just as well for amla, jeera or barley water.

Rs 1,499 on instacuppastore.com

See the 2.2 L jug

You will need a few things we do not make. Dried amla pieces for the off-season soak. Amla powder from a brand that prints a batch date. And a small stainless steel saucepan with a lid if you go the boiled route. Amla is the other overnight drink in Indian kitchens, next to ajwain water, barley water, haldi water and ginger water. The same infuser bottle or jug serves them all, and infused water benefits explains what to expect from the whole family of them.

Fresh Amla: Season, Varieties, and What to Buy

Short answer: fresh amla is seasonal. Buy firm, smooth, pale green fruit with no soft spots. The National Horticulture Board lists Kanchan, Krishna, NA 6, NA 7 and NA 10 as the commercially grown varieties, and TNAU adds Banarasi, Chakaiya and BSR 1. Vitamin C varies a lot by variety, so your fruit may sit above or below the food-table average.

Amla is grown across India. The National Horticulture Board lists belts from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and names Kanchan (NA 4), Krishna (NA 5), NA 6, NA 7 and NA 10 as the varieties grown commercially. TNAU's horticulture portal calls Banarasi, NA 7, Krishna, Kanchan, Chakaiya and BSR 1 the most popular cultivated varieties. You will rarely see a variety name at the market, but the point is this: amla is not one thing. The Antioxidants review found vitamin C values from 193 to 720 mg per 100 g across varieties and studies. IFCT's 252 mg is an average across regions.

At the stall, pick fruit that is firm, smooth and evenly pale green. Skip any with brown soft patches or wrinkled skin. Two or three fruit per bottle, so a quarter kilo lasts most of a week in the fridge. When fresh amla is not in the market, dried amla and powder are the honest substitutes, as the powder section explains.

Amla in Indian Languages

Short answer: amla is one fruit with many names. The ICMR-NIN food tables list them, so a nellikai water search and an amla water search are asking the same question.

Language	Name (IFCT 2017, E021)
English	Indian gooseberry
Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi	Amla
Tamil	Nellikkai
Malayalam	Nellikka
Telugu	Usirikaya
Kannada	Betta nelli
Assamese	Amlakhi
Odia	Aanla
Punjabi	Olle
Khasi	Soh mylleng
Manipuri	Heikru

Questions People Ask

Is boiled amla or raw amla better?

Raw amla keeps the most vitamin C. Boiling destroys a share of it, because vitamin C breaks down with heat. If you boil, keep it short, drink the water and eat the fruit. Then the loss is smaller. No lab has measured a home pot of boiled amla, so we do not print a number for it.

Does amla lose its nutrients after boiling?

It loses some vitamin C, not all of it. Fibre and minerals stay in the fruit. In vegetable studies, boiling for five minutes kept 45 to 64% of the vitamins, and part of the loss was simply vitamin C leaking into the water. If you drink that water, you get it back.

Can I soak amla in water overnight?

Yes. Wash two or three fresh amla, cut them into wedges, drop them in 500 ml of water, and keep the bottle in the fridge. Drink it in the morning and eat the pieces. The fruit still holds most of the goodness.

What happens if I drink amla soaked water daily?

You get a tangy, low-calorie drink with some vitamin C and plant compounds from the fruit. That is the honest size of it. The trials that found blood sugar or cholesterol changes used grams of amla powder or extract every day for weeks, not a glass of soaked water.

Is amla water better than amla juice?

Juice has more of everything, because the whole fruit goes into it. Amla water is milder and easier on the stomach. If you find juice too sour or too strong, water is the gentler way to keep amla in your day.

When is the best time to drink amla water?

There is no trial that tested timing. Most people drink it in the morning because it was soaking overnight. If it gives you acidity on an empty stomach, drink it after breakfast instead. The vitamin C does not care about the clock.

Can I use amla powder with hot water instead of fresh amla?

Yes, when fresh fruit is out of season. Use warm water, not boiling, and stir well. Drying already lowers the vitamin C, and boiling water lowers it further. Expect less than fresh fruit, and buy powder from a brand that prints a batch date.

Is amla available throughout the year?

Fresh amla is a seasonal fruit, so for part of the year the market has none. Dried amla and amla powder are the honest substitutes in the off months. Check the fruit is firm and unblemished when you do find it.

Is nellikai water or gooseberry water the same as amla water?

Yes. Amla is nellikkai in Tamil, nellikka in Malayalam, usirikaya in Telugu, betta nelli in Kannada and Indian gooseberry in English. Same fruit, same drink.

Can I keep amla pieces in my water bottle all day?

Yes. An infuser bottle holds the pieces so they do not float into your mouth. Keep the bottle out of the sun, refill once during the day if you like, and rinse the bottle and infuser at night. Do not carry the same pieces into a second day.

Does amla water help hair growth?

One small trial gave sixty women with pattern hair loss an amla syrup three times a day for 12 weeks and saw more hair in the growing phase. That was a measured syrup dose, not soaked water. Amla water is a pleasant habit, not a hair treatment.

Who should avoid amla water?

Ask your doctor first if you take blood thinners such as clopidogrel or aspirin, because amla extract prolonged bleeding and clotting time in a small trial. Also if you take diabetes medicine, since amla can lower blood sugar on its own. Pregnant women and anyone with a health condition should check too.

Sources

ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017: E021 Gooseberry (Emblica officinalis), total ascorbic acid 252 mg/100 g; E047 Orange pulp 42.72 mg/100 g; regional names. PDF
ICMR-NIN, Nutrient Requirements for Indians, RDA 2020 brief note: vitamin C 80 mg/day men, 65 mg/day women. PDF
ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024: vitamin C sources, loss in discarded cooking water, iron absorption. PDF
Petersen MA. "Influence of sous vide processing, steaming and boiling on vitamin retention and sensory quality in broccoli florets." Z Lebensm Unters Forsch 1993. PubMed 8249480
Baardseth P et al. "Vitamin C, total phenolics and antioxidative activity in tip-cut green beans and swede rods processed by methods used in catering." J Sci Food Agric 2010. PubMed 20394008
Gul M et al. "Functional and Nutraceutical Significance of Amla (Phyllanthus emblica L.): A Review." Antioxidants 2022. PubMed 35624683
Akhtar MS et al. "Effect of Amla fruit (Emblica officinalis Gaertn.) on blood glucose and lipid profile of normal subjects and type 2 diabetic patients." Int J Food Sci Nutr 2011. PubMed 21495900
Setayesh L et al. "The impact of Emblica Officinalis (Amla) on lipid profile, glucose, and C-reactive protein: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Diabetes Metab Syndr 2023. PubMed 36934568
Brown PDS et al. "Clinical effects of Emblica officinalis fruit consumption on cardiovascular disease risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis." BMC Complement Med Ther 2023. PubMed 37296402
Usharani P et al. "Evaluation of the effects of a standardized aqueous extract of Phyllanthus emblica fruits on endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress, systemic inflammation and lipid profile in subjects with metabolic syndrome." BMC Complement Altern Med 2019. PubMed 31060549
Akhbari M et al. "The effect of an oral product containing Amla fruit (Phyllanthus emblica L.) on female androgenetic alopecia: a randomized controlled trial." J Ethnopharmacol 2024. PubMed 37487962
Fatima N et al. "Study of pharmacodynamic interaction of Phyllanthus emblica extract with clopidogrel and ecosprin in patients with type II diabetes mellitus." Phytomedicine 2014. PubMed 24291054
Layeeq S, Thakar AB. "Clinical efficacy of Amalaki Rasayana in the management of Pandu (iron deficiency anemia)." AYU 2015. PubMed 27313416
National Horticulture Board, Aonla: cultivated varieties, growing belts, post-harvest grading. Page
TNAU Agritech Portal, Horticulture: Fruits: Amla: popular cultivated varieties. Page

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