The Amazing Benefits of Ashwagandha | Latest Research

Ashwagandha is a popular herb in Ayurvedic medicine that's been used to promote overall well-being for thousands of years. In fact, it's known as Indian ginseng and has been gaining a lot of traction outside of India. It's reported to have a wide range of benefits including better sleep and improved memory. It's also used in the treatment of anxiety and stress and some use it to help with athletic performance and even in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. But is there any scientific evidence to back up its traditional uses? Well, I did some digging into the literature and actually came away pretty impressed by the evidence there is for some of its uses. So in this video, I'll tell you the benefits of ashwagandha that have the strongest evidence behind them. And at the end of the video, I'll go over its safety profile and we'll discuss everything you need to know before incorporating ashwagandha into your health routine. Hi, I'm Dr. Leenit Kim, board certified in obesity and internal medicine. And on this channel, I discuss the most up-to-date and evidence-based information on the topics of weight loss, metabolic health, and longevity. Let's get into it. First, one of the most studied uses of ashwagandha is its effect on stress and anxiety. There was a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of 29 trials published in May of last year that noted a significant effect on anxiety and found it to be effective as measured by the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, which is a psychological questionnaire often used to rate the severity of a person's anxiety. But the trials were limited by small sample sizes. Another study I want to highlight is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in 2019 that looked at adaptogenic and anxiolytic effects of the ashwagandha root extract. This study not only looked at the overall perceived stress and anxiety levels, but also a participant's serum cortisol levels, which is a stress hormone that can lead to elevated sugars, weight gain, and depression. This study found a significant reduction in stress levels, as well as a decrease in serum cortisol levels. One thing to note is this study also looked at the response to two different doses of ashwagandha and compared the standard dose of 600 milligrams a day to a lower dose of 250 milligrams a day. And what they found was that even at a lower dose of 250 milligrams per day, there was a statistically significant reduction in stress levels and improvement in serum cortisol levels, as well as improvement in sleep quality. However, the improvement in anxiety was only seen in the group taking the higher dose of ashwagandha of 600 milligrams per day. These results were impressive, but the sample size was pretty small at 60 people and the study duration was only eight weeks long. So, pretty difficult to extrapolate these findings to a larger population, and it's unclear if the results would change with a longer follow-up. Now, with increased stress and anxiety often leading to poor sleep and insomnia, it's not surprising that ashwagandha has also been used to improve sleep. There was a meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials containing 400 participants, published in 2021, that noted that ashwagandha extract does show a beneficial effect on improving sleep in adults. An important side note, though, is that only two of the trials included in this meta-analysis combine both the subjective and the objective sleep measurements. So, only two studies use both the self-reported questionnaires and also lab-based polysomnography, which is a test that adds a little bit more objective data on the quality of sleep. Another important side note is that there was hardly any data on the effects of ashwagandha in the elderly. So, it's tough to extrapolate these effects in that population. Now, when it comes to memory and cognition, the evidence is just not as strong, but it does include a prospective randomized double-blind study conducted in 50 adults to show that eight weeks of ashwagandha treatment demonstrated significant improvement in both immediate and general memory. And it also showed a general improvement in executive function, sustained attention, and information processing speed in adults with mild cognitive impairment. And a follow-up systematic review of five clinical studies noted early clinical evidence to support cognitive benefits. However, the study was limited by a heterogeneous population that included adults with mild cognitive impairment, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. Another area of research focused on the effects of ashwagandha on physical performance, and the initial data is pretty promising. A recent double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial published in 2021 looked at 50 athletic adults with half of them randomized to receiving 300 milligrams of ashwagandha twice a day for eight weeks. The group that received ashwagandha showed an improvement in VO2 max, or a marker of cardiorespiratory fitness, as well as improvement in recovery. And another study looked specifically at muscle strength and recovery and looked at 57 adults with half of them randomized to supplementation with ashwagandha, with the other one randomized to a placebo. And after eight weeks of resistance training, the group that took ashwagandha had significantly greater increases in muscle strength and size. The ashwagandha group also has significantly greater reduction of exercise-induced muscle damage, as indicated by the stabilization of serum creatinine kinase, as well as a greater decrease in body fat percentage. Lastly, some people promote using ashwagandha in the treatment of perimenopausal symptoms, and a recent randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study published in 2021 looked at 100 women and found that taking 300 milligrams of ashwagandha twice a day was associated with improvements in hot flashes, night sweats, anxiety, as well as with improvement of urogenital symptoms compared to placebo. The group treated with ashwagandha also showed a statistically significant increase in estradiol levels, which may explain why it helps with menopausal symptoms, as menopause is the time when we see estradiol levels decline due to progressive ovarian impairment. Finally, when it comes to safety, none of those studies have found any major adverse events, but most of the studies had a pretty small sample size and a short follow-up window. And there was a study published in 2021 that looked specifically at the safety and tolerability of ashwagandha in 80 participants and found that administration of ashwagandha up to 300 milligrams twice a day for 8 weeks did not show any adverse effects, specifically when it came to hematologic and biochemical parameters. They also did not find any abnormalities in the subject's liver or thyroid function, which is good to see as there are some case reports of liver damage associated with ashwagandha. Unfortunately, there's just no reliable long-term data on the safety of ashwagandha beyond 8 weeks. Personally, given the small sample size and sparse long-term safety data, I would talk to your doctor before using ashwagandha, especially if you're taking prescription medications or other supplements, as it will be important to keep track of any potential side effects on your liver or keep track of any drug interactions with other medications. I hope this review was helpful, and I'll see you in the next one.