ASHWAGANDHA BENEFITS: What Ashwagandha Is And How It Works

I can't be the only one who sometimes dreams what it would be like to live in a different time period. Until I remember the healthcare. Definitely the common cold. Don't worry, three leeches for 30 minutes will fix you right up. While some things have definitely changed since then, I think sometimes people overblow how backwards traditional medicine was. Joke about how medieval doctors used leeches to cure injuries all you want, but explain why modern day doctors are now beginning to use them too, as studies demonstrate leeches are able to stimulate circulation and draw out contaminated blood. I think part of the problem lays in the fact that leeches don't come in that little orange drug bottle, which in today's world means one thing. Results. While leeches actually have medical backing, that orange bottle is so powerful that when given blank sugar pills and told it was a pharmaceutical drug, patients still reported feeling like there were reductions in their symptoms. A drug is simply a chemical substance of known structure which has been proven to treat a disease. All that's special about it is that it has been standardized and But here's the thing, many of these chemical structures are actually inspired by chemicals found in nature. Don't believe me? For thousands of years, willow bark was gathered and used as a pain reliever. We now know that it contains the chemical substance salicylic acid. We know this because centuries later, salicylic acid from willow bark was being extracted and sold as better known by its brand name, aspirin. Now one of the most popular drugs in the world. While the idea of drinking some willow bark tea for your achy joints might seem like nonsense, I doubt you'd think twice about the efficacy of aspirin. Why? Because thousands of research studies and testimonials speak to the fact that it works. This is what is key to remember when For thousands of years, ashwagandha root was one of the staples of traditional Indian medicine. And what I want you to remember is just because it doesn't come in that orange bottle, doesn't mean that the chemical compounds within it are any less effective. In this video, we are going to take a scientific approach. Looking at the substances within the root, the research-backed benefits of consuming them, and how this simple root has helped so many people. The name itself comes from the translation smell of horse, which is attributed to the root itself smelling a bit like a horse, and the idea that the root is supposed to give you the strength and virility of a wild horse. More on that later. In traditional Indian medicine, it is classified as rasayana, meaning it is believed to lead to a long life. Similarly, in more modern times, medicine tends to classify it as an adaptogen. Adaptogens are compounds which allow the body to deal with the physical and chemical effects of stress. It's no surprise then that one of its most celebrated benefits is an apparent reduction in feelings of anxiety and a boost in mood. As people began to understand the importance of hormones, claims began to surface that ashwagandha possesses the direct ability to reduce the stress hormone cortisol. Ayurvedic medicine also classifies it as bala, signifying a belief it increases strength, and as vajakara, which means something works as an aphrodisiac. In a similar vein, the strength and bodybuilding communities often float claims that it directly increases testosterone, which could potentially lead to greater strength and fitness. There are also claims surrounding a benefit to male fertility. Today, we're going to look at all of these common claims and check what the published research says. Beyond that though, let's go a little bit deeper and understand what the key chemical structures are within the root which endow ashwagandha with its medicinal properties. So your first question may be, how could a root even have medicinal properties? Isn't it just made up of root molecules? Well, as it turns out, plants are just a little more complicated than that. See, inside plants are an array of special compounds known as phytochemicals. Because plants can't move around to meet their needs, these secondary metabolites exist to perform specific tasks. Some act as an immune system, responding to and attacking disease molecules if their soil becomes contaminated. Some are designed to deter insects from eating them, as the plant can't exactly run away. And certain phytochemicals simply help the plant grow fast and strong. In any given plant species, there are between 200,000 and a million unique chemical compounds. When you have an organism with so many potent phytochemicals, every so often these molecules can overlap with ones which activate pathways in our own bodies. In this way, they can have a very meaningful effect on our bodies when consumed, just as the chemicals in willow bark can trigger receptors and pathways which dull the sensation of pain. What makes ashwagandha special is that it contains an unusually high number of phytochemicals, which positively influence systems in our own bodies. Worth special attention is a family of approximately 40 phytochemicals which ashwagandha contains. They're a class of steroidal lactones known as withanolids. Don't let the word steroid confuse you though. In our bodies, there are a bunch of naturally occurring steroid hormones, which do everything from suppressing inflammation to helping us heal from injury and build muscle. One of the most common claims regarding ashwagandha is that it helps to reduce levels of the stress steroid hormone cortisol, as well as the resultant feelings of anxiety and depression, resulting in an overall improved feeling of well-being and a new positivity towards life. I saw a YouTube comment the other day which backed this up, saying, I always feel anxious and stressed for no reason at all, and ashwagandha takes me off the fight-or-flight mode. I don't behave like a squirrel. I'm more chill and much happier. But this of course is just anecdotal. I'm sure many of you are wondering, like I was, whether these results are real or just that placebo effect which we talked about earlier. In 2008, a clinical trial was conducted to address exactly this question. They found 98 chronically stressed out but otherwise healthy participants and had participants complete a survey to measure the degree of their stress. The survey was based on a Bengali version of a modified Hamilton anxiety scale for stress and had participants rate symptoms of anxiety on a five-point scale. Zero, meaning they never experienced that symptom, and four, meaning they feel that symptom to a severe degree. They divided the participants into four groups. The placebo group, which would consume a pill without ashwagandha in it. One group, which would consume one daily dose of 125 milligrams of ashwagandha root powder. One group would consume 250 milligrams each day, and the last group would take 500 milligrams of the root powder each day. The researchers were smart to use a standardized ashwagandha extract. This ensured that the root powder was tested and verified to contain enough of the key withanolides, removing some of the guesswork. That's actually why I also personally choose to take a standardized extract. I put a link in the description to the one I take myself, but any standardized extract should work similarly well. This way, they could see if ashwagandha would truly have the desired effect on the participants. After 30 and 60 days, they re-administered the questionnaire to see if any of the symptoms had reduced. What they found was pretty amazing. In the lowest dose group, by day 30, their average total score dropped by 39.5%, and by day 60, it had dropped 62.2% compared to the placebo group, which saw no significant change at all. The groups taking larger doses of ashwagandha saw even greater decreases in their scores in a dose-dependent manner, leading to the conclusion that not only is ashwagandha effective, but 500 plus milligrams seems to be the optimal amount for maximum benefits. Reductions like this make it sound like ashwagandha is almost too good to be true, begging the question, how are the chemicals in the root able to have such profound effects? While the research is far from complete, there are some very promising theories backed by some additional findings in the previous studies which I haven't mentioned yet. You see, while the questionnaires provided evidence of an effect, the researchers also measured biological changes. At the start of the study, they took baseline levels of several hormones, including cortisol, DHEAS, and C-reactive protein to name a few. What happened after the 60 days to these levels provides a strong clue as to how ashwagandha is exerting its powerful effects. To fully understand, though, we need a quick bio lesson on free radicals and their impact on your health, brain, and mood. Bear with me here, as understanding this is key to helping everything else make sense. If you don't really care about the mechanisms behind ashwagandha reducing anxiety and depression, you can skip ahead to learn about the rest of the benefits. In past videos, we've talked about how our bodies turn the nutrients in the food we eat into energy our cells can use. This usable energy is a specific chemical called ATP. ATP molecules are comprised of adenosine and a chain of three phosphate molecules. Think of ATP molecules as our body's energy units. Our cells create ATP within themselves by combining oxygen with other precursor chemicals. ATP is great because once it is time to use this energy, the third phosphate on the chain of the ATP molecule can be released, resulting in a burst of energy being given off. This energy powers our cells, and by extension, our entire body. One of the main processes of creating these energy units is called the electron transport chain, which involves a complex series of chemical reactions which create ATP as well as various byproducts. One of the byproducts of this system are excess electrons, hence the name. Now, usually this isn't a problem. Through a series of oxidation-reduction reactions, the electrons can be brought to an oxygen molecule, which is then combined with hydrogen to produce simple, harmless water. However, in anywhere from 0.1% to 2% of electrons passing through the chain, there is a glitch, where oxygen is instead prematurely and incompletely reduced, creating the superoxide radical, which is definitely not harmless. Superoxide is a type of free radical. Think of these free radicals like the chemical emissions car engines can give off when they misfire as they become older and less efficient. Only unlike the accidental chemicals that come out of your car exhaust, which can damage the world outside your body, these free radicals can damage the systems inside your body. Free radicals can begin causing havoc, binding with chemicals they aren't meant to, reacting with harmless chemicals, turning them into toxic ones, even causing DNA damage, which can lead to cell death. This is why people will warn you about the dangers of free radicals. They are hurting your body at a molecular level. What's worse is because they originate in the mitochondria. That's often the place they damage the most. If this energy center is damaged, it can become less efficient at creating ATP, leading to the creation of even more free radicals. While energy generation is the most abundant source, environmental factors can also lead to the generation of free radicals. One of the biggest of these sources is ultraviolet rays from the sun, which when they impact your skin, can knock into molecules, breaking the electrons free, which then causes the cell and DNA damage, which we've come to expect from too much sun exposure. Seeing as how this can be a problem, our bodies have a complex antioxidant defense system, which is usually able to clear away these free radicals. Enzymes such as superoxide dimutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase all exist to neutralize free radicals. In addition, there are non-enzymatic defenses, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, and copper, to name a few. However, sometimes, whether it's due to your diet, lifestyle, or simply genetics, these defenses can get worn down, leading to an overabundance of free radicals. This is both a major problem, but also a major opportunity for ashwagandha. Once I get to it, this will all make sense. See, not only do free radicals destroy DNA and cause cell death, but they also trigger immune and stress responses, both of which lead to the key which ties this all together, the inflammatory response, one of the oldest protective mechanisms in our body. In fact, elements of it existed even before the development of our nervous system. Our stress response and immune response evolved from this primitive inflammatory response. This is why pathways which activate during stress and immune responses will trigger inflammation. If you've ever had an allergic reaction which led to swelling, that's an example of the immune system mistaking something harmless for a dangerous pathogen, and when the immune system triggers, it also lights up the inflammatory response. Here's where it gets crazy, though. If your antioxidant defense systems are worn down, levels of free radicals can easily get out of hand. These free radical levels trigger the immune response because high levels of free radicals often indicate cell damage. The immune system thinks there's a pathogen damaging your body, and what comes with the immune response? The inflammatory response. Just like how an allergic reaction can cause swelling on the outside of your body, these free radical-triggered immune responses can cause low levels of inflammation within your body. The brain is especially susceptible to this inflammation because it has one of the highest mass-specific oxygen consumption rates in the body, so even the smallest imbalance in antioxidant defense mechanisms can be damaging to brain cells. Brain regions in the limbic system both play a large role in controlling symptoms of depression and anxiety, and also seem to be strongly impacted by the damaging effects of free radicals. More and more researchers are beginning to make the connection that continual, low-grade systemic inflammation in the brain, termed neuroinflammation, is deeply involved in the pathophysiology of feelings of depression and anxiety. One piece of evidence for this link is in levels of C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is produced during an inflammatory response. Doctors actually use elevated levels of C-reactive protein as an indicator of an inflammatory condition. An analysis published by JAMA Psychology found increasing CRP levels were also associated with increasing risk for psychological distress and depression. Let's now look back at the last clinical trial on ashwagandha, which saw subjects report major improvements in feelings of anxiety and depression. After 60 days consuming ashwagandha, their C-reactive protein levels were down by about a third across the different dosage groups, meaning the consumption of ashwagandha reduces neuroinflammation, which is increasingly being recognized as causative in feelings of depression and anxiety. The role neuroinflammation plays in and the evidence that ashwagandha is able to reduce neuroinflammation provides a solid explanation of how it is able to have such a positive impact on the subjects. Science is still figuring out exactly how ashwagandha is able to do this, but a study on rat brains has demonstrated that consumption of ashwagandha is able to boost the body's natural antioxidant defenses, showing increases in levels of glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dimutase, and catalase. Through reducing neuroinflammation and thereby baseline levels of immune and stress hormones, it would make sense that the brain would also be less sensitive to stressful events through day-to-day life. As I said, stress and inflammation are closely linked, so much so that some of the same neuropeptides control both, an example of which is the nuclear factor KB pathway, which, when activated, leads to both inflammation and the release of various stress hormones through activation of the HPA axis. Ashwagandha has been shown in studies to be able to disrupt this NFKB pathway. This explains why the clinical trial which saw reductions in C-reactive protein also logged reductions in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol. So it seems that claims regarding ashwagandha reducing feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress are confirmed. Unsurprisingly, through these positive effects on stress, ashwagandha can decrease many of the secondary symptoms of stress. Studies have shown decreases in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as increases in social functioning and motivation. Since oxidative stress is also a component of aging, and many degenerative diseases like arthritis and Parkinson's, the traditional beliefs about improving life expectancy could have some actual merit. While it's beyond the scope of this video, I should also mention there has even been study into the cancer-fighting abilities of some of the active chemicals in ashwagandha. Studies in live mice have shown growth inhibition in various types of tumors, leading more research to be conducted on this topic. Now there's one major category which we haven't touched on yet. These would be the claims regarding boosts in testosterone, muscle size, strength, and male fertility. While luckily for us, there is also research on these topics. In 2015, a study was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition to take on the long-standing claims of ashwagandha boosting strength. The idea was to take 57 young men with little training experience and divide them into two groups. Subjects in the treatment group consumed 300 milligrams of ashwagandha root extract twice daily, while the control group consumed starch placebos. They all tested their one rep max strength on the bench press and leg extension, then performed the same resistance training program for eight weeks. At the end of the eight weeks, they tested for changes in one rep max strength, as well as measured for muscle size and testosterone level changes. Now, if you've watched my channel for a little bit, you know I'm always skeptical of the ability of a herb to significantly affect muscular development, which is why I was surprised with the results. Compared to the placebo group, the group consuming the ashwagandha gained significantly more strength. While the placebo group packed on an average of 26.4 kilograms onto their bench press over the two months, the group consuming ashwagandha added an average of 46 kilograms. A similar difference was also seen on the leg extension. Additionally, the ashwagandha group also gained a bit more muscle size than the placebo group did. Now, it's well known that new lifters will usually make the fastest gains in strength, so I'd be curious to see how a similar study on trained individuals would turn out. But regardless, these numbers really caught my interest. The authors of the study put forth several explanations for the results. I'll quickly touch on a couple. See, the ability to hit a one rep max lift can be broken into three components. The size of the muscles doing the lift, their ability to produce energy, and the central nervous system's ability to recruit the muscles and coordinate them to generate the required force. While we already saw that ashwagandha consumption can help with brain function through reductions in inflammation, it is reasonable to hypothesize that this might have a carryover benefit to the rest of the CNS as well. Also, from an energy production standpoint, we know that the antioxidant properties of the herb can have beneficial effects on mitochondrial energy levels and functioning. But the most interesting element by far is muscle size. Based on the measurements the researchers took, we already know that the group consuming ashwagandha did see slightly more muscle growth. So for certain, this factor is playing some role. There are two possible explanations for this. One is that the boost in testosterone levels led to greater muscle growth. After all, it's well proven that super physiological levels of testosterone lead to increases in muscle size. My issue with that explanation though is that while the increase was statistically significant and impressive for a herb, testosterone levels still remained within natural levels. While the placebo group's serum testosterone levels increased to about 695 nanograms per deciliter, the treatment group's average level was 725. In my opinion, that isn't enough alone to explain such a large discrepancy in gains. So what is mediating the ability of ashwagandha to promote muscle growth? I think the answer lies in the benefits we've previously covered. For one, the ability of ashwagandha to lower cortisol levels. We saw that cortisol levels fell significantly in the subjects consuming ashwagandha. Cortisol is known to be causative in muscle breakdown. Also, a recently conducted population-based study found that higher levels of IL-6 and CRP increased the risk of muscle strength loss. Ashwagandha, as you may remember, both lowers CRP and suppresses the NFKB pathway, which is what produces IL-6. You can see how one study put it here. This means while ashwagandha is promoting growth pathways, it's also reducing the activation of pathways which break down muscle. In terms of fertility benefits, studies on infertile men have found improvements in sperm health and quality. This coincides with both reductions in markers of oxidative stress in testicles and improvements in reproductive hormone levels. So now I hope you have a better idea of how ashwagandha really works. I had to read through countless papers to get to this understanding, but now you won't have to. One thing I should mention, if you're interested in picking some up, make sure you buy from a reputable brand. Some brands will dilute the root powder with material from other parts of the plant, which haven't been shown to produce the same result. Some brands are doing it right though. They select strains of the plant to breed with potency in mind. They also test and standardize all of their extract to ensure it contains the active within solids. I personally always go with these since it gives me a better idea of what I'm getting. While there are a few on the market, the most common one you'll see is called KSM-66. Developed by a lab in India, I like that it's and it's what's used in the ashwagandha supplement I linked below, the one I take. Also, this channel just has 5,000 subscribers, so if you want to make sure you see my next video, consider subscribing, or you may never see me again. Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram, shoot me a DM, like all my pictures if you must insist. It's up to you. Also, as we get closer to 10,000 subscribers, I hope you're all getting hyped for my next PR video. Gonna be downing some ashwagandha before that one. Until next time, D-man, signing off.