Rhodiola

Rhodiola, is authentic Russian Rhodiola rosea, an herb with a long traditional use in Siberia for adaptation to the rigors of life on the tundras of North-central Asia. Rhodiola is a powerful adaptogen backed by extensive animal studies and several controlled human trials. Users report that Rhodiola is especially well suited to persons who typically respond to stress with anger or anxiousness. Rhodiola also provides support for healthy cell-mediated immune response.

60 Vegi-Caps AOR04019
100% Vegetarian

SUPPLEMENT FACTS:
Serving Size: 1 Capsule %DRI
Rhodiola rosea ............................. 150 mg * (min. 3% rosavins, 1% salidroside, ~0.1% p-tyrosol)

*Dietary Reference Intake not established.

Other ingredients: none. Capsule: vegetarian (hydroxypropylmethylcellulose).

AOR guarantees that no ingredients not listed on the label have been added to the product. Contains no wheat, gluten, corn, nuts, dairy, soy, eggs, fish, or shellfish.

Suggested Use
Take one capsule daily on an empty stomach, or as directed by a qualified health consultant.

Main Applications
As reported by literature:
•Physical or psychological stress
•Immune function

Source
Russian Root.

Pregnancy / Nursing
No studies. Best to avoid.

Cautions
None known.

Key Ingredients: Rhodiola rosea

Related Research of Rhodiola

Rhodiola, also known as “Roseroot,” is authentic Russian Rhodiola rosea, an herb with a long history of use as an adaptogen and sexual tonic in the traditional medicine of Iceland, Norway, the Carpathian Mountains of the Ukraine, and above all in Siberia, for adaptation to the rigors of life on the tundras of North-central Asia. Dioscorides, the father of medical botany, provides the earliest documented medicinal use of this botanical in De Materia Medica, a phytomedicinal text which formed the basis of Western pharmaceutical and herbal writing for the next 1500 years. In more recent times, Rhodiola preparations have been listed in the national pharmacopoeias of France, Sweden, Denmark, and the former USSR, as an adaptogen and “brain tonic.” In the nations of the former Soviet Union, Rhodiola is traditionally prepared in the form of a tincture called "nastojka", decocted from fresh Rhodiola roots by soaking the roots in 40% alcohol for one week.

Rigorous testing of Rhodiola’s adaptogenic properties in the former Soviet Union in the mid-60s, and has continued to this day. Four decades of animal studies and controlled clinical trials in humans clearly demonstrates that Rhodiola extract is a true adaptogenic botanical.

As a classic adaptogen, Rhodiola extracts both steel the organism against the eventuality of stressors, and prevent an overshoot into burnout when those stressors are endured. This can be seen in the botanical’s simultaneous bolstering of the baseline levels of adaptive neurotransmitters and hormones typically increased in response to adaptation to the rigors of endurance training, and prevention of overactivation of those same pathways when the organism is in a stressful environment. As another example of the adaptive, balancing effect of Rhodiola, the key component salidroside has been found to prevent excessive blood sugar levels after an injection of adrenaline (which normally causes the body to pump out more glucose) and to prevent blood sugar levels from falling too low after an injection of insulin.

Again, Soviet scientists discovered a generation ago that Rhodiola allows experimental animals to use their body’s glycogen energy reserves more sparingly under forced exercise, and to replenish those reserves (and reserves of the crucial high-energy compound creatine phosphate) more quickly afterwards. These properties doubtless contribute to Rhodiola’s ability to extend animals’ endurance during forced swimming or clinging to a rod to avoid falling. To make sure that Rhodiola’s effects on physical performance was an adaptogenic effect, and not caused by flooding the body with steroids, scientists looked for the kind of hyper-masculinization you see in steroid freaks at the gym: no such signs were found.

Accordingly, Rhodiola extracts improve the organism’s capacity to stand up against a wide variety of stressors, including heat shock, heavy metal exposure, free radical assault, high altitude, terpentine, liver-damaging doses of adriamycin, and exhaustive exercise. Another example is Rhodiola’s ability to protect the heart from stress. When lab animals are subjected to extreme cold or to massive doses of the stress hormone adrenaline, the regular, controlled beating of their hearts is disrupted and the oxygen supply is temporarily cut off. But Rhodiola supplements prevent arrhythmia, reduce the damage to the muscle cells of the heart, and balance the overflow of stress neurotransmitters normally associated with these stressors.

Clinical Trials

Recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have documented the ability of standardized Rhodiola to enhance the body's physical and mental work capacity and productivity under conditions of stress. In one trial, 161 military cadets performing a 24-hour military exercise were randomized to receive either Rhodiola at a standard dose, Rhodiola at a 50% higher dose, a dummy pill, or no capsules (real or placebo). At the beginning of the exercise, the cadets’ total state of fatigue (measured by evaluations of mental performance) and self-evaluated health and wellbeing was tested, and a general medical exam was performed, including pulse pressure and pulse rate. At 0400 hours, the cadets took their capsules (Rhodiola or placebo), and were re-tested an hour later.

All groups began the study with very similar performance, and Rhodiola did not cause any side-effects or disturbances of physiological parameters. But at the end of the study, Rhodiola users experienced a pronounced antifatigue effect: while the placebo group was performing almost 10% subpar, the two groups taking Rhodiola were actually experiencing marginally better performance than they had before the military exercise began! There was also a tendency toward a better overall sense of health and wellbeing among subjects taking Rhodiola.There was no overall difference in mental performance between the two Rhodiola dosages, although a slight trend in favor of the lower dose was observed in the psychometric tests.

In a second, longer study, the effect of Rhodiola on total mental performance was evaluated in a group of 56 young, healthy physicians during two-week stretches on night duty. Mental performance was evaluated using tests of perceptual and cognitive functions, such as associative thinking, short-term memory, calculation and concentration, and speed of audiovisual perception. Each doctor spent one night shift rotation taking either the placebo or one Rhodiola tablet each day, then “washed out” for two weeks, and finally “crossed over” to the treatment they had not previously received during their next rotation. Comparing the physicians’ performance during their time on placebo with their results while taking Rhodiola revealed a clear antifatigue effect during the two-week period of Rhodiola supplementation.

A third study assessed the power of Rhodiola in a group of students during final exams. Over the course of the 20-day examination period, students were randomized to receive either Rhodiola supplements or a placebo. Their physical and mental performance was assessed before and after the exam marathon, based on both objective tests and the students’ own perceptions.

Compared to the placebos, Rhodiola supplements gave students significant boosts in tests of physical fitness, mental fatigue and neuromotor fuction. Students taking Rhodiola also reported that they experienced an improved feeling of general well-being compared with the students taking the dummy pills.

It’s How You Feel

Rhodiola doesn’t just help people navigate their way through complex mental tasks, however. People who have tried this botanical report that they feel better on Rhodiola. The effect is described in terms of a continuous sensation of physical and mental relief from stress, and anecdotally appears to be most pronounced in people who typically respond to stress with anger or sensations of helplessness.

Animal studies have given us some clues to the neurochemical basis of these effects: Rhodiola has well-documented effects on the metabolism of variety of neurotransmitters. For instance, Rhodiola enhances the transport of the serotonin precursors tryptophan and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) across the blood-brain barrier, and decreases the action of the serotonin-degrading catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) enzyme. It also boosts brain levels of dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine, all of which are key neurotransmitters targeted by major classes of antidepressant drugs. Rhodiola also appears to influence the synthesis, levels, and/or activity of endorphins and enkephalins, since blocking the receptors for some of these “feel-good” peptides negates some of Rhodiola’s effects.

The Importance of Full Standardization
The earliest research identified salidroside (and its free form, p-tyrosol) as a key active ingredient in Rhodiola, and many clinical trials still use salidroside as the sole active for standardization of their Rhodiola botanicals. More recently, studies have focused on the effects of rosavin. Some Rhodiola species found in China and elsewhere contain salidroside but not rosavin, the most characteristic active ingredient of true Rhodiola rosea. On the other hand, many products fail to standardize for the salidroside content, despite the extensive documentation of its adaptogenic effects. A properly-standardized Rhodiola extract will contain at least 3% rosavins and 1% salidroside; p-tyrosol will also be present in small amounts.

References
Shevtsov VA, Zholus BI, Shervarly VI, Vol'skij VB, Korovin YP, Khristich MP, Roslyakova NA, Wikman G. A randomized trial of two different doses of a SHR-5 Rhodiola rosea extract versus placebo and control of capacity for mental work. Phytomedicine. 2003 Mar; 10(2-3): 95-105.
Darbinyan V, Kteyan A, Panossian A, Gabrielian E, Wikman G, Wagner H. Rhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue – a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night duty. Phytomedicine 2000 Oct; 7(5): 365-71.
Spasov AA, Wikman GK, Mandrikov VB, Mironova IA, Neumoin VV. A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimen. Phytomedicine 2000 Apr; 7(2): 85-9.
Bocharova OA, Matveev BP, Baryshnikov AIu, Figurin KM, Serebriakova RV, Bodrova NB. The effect of a Rhodiola rosea extract on the incidence of recurrences of a superficial bladder cancer (experimental clinical research) Urol Nefrol (Mosk) 1995 Mar-Apr; (2): 46-7.
Maslova LV, Kondrat'ev BIu, Maslov LN, Lishmanov IuB. The cardioprotective and antiadrenergic activity of an extract of Rhodiola rosea in stress. Eksp Klin Farmakol 1994 Nov-Dec; 5(6): 61-3.
Brekhman II, Dardymov IV. New substances of plant origin, which increase nonspecific resistance. Ann Rev Pharm.1969; 9: 419-30.

This information is copyright the Editor of Advances magazine and may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any medium without the express permission of Advanced Orthomolecular Research. Used with permission.

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