One thing that ancient Greek doctors and 20th century cosmonauts have in common ? They both enjoyed the benefits of Rhodiola. If you are looking for Rhodiola reviews and learn more about its benefits and safety, this article is for you.
About Rhodiola
Rhodiola Uses/Benefits — Traditional Use
Rhodiola Health Benefits -Modern Research. Summary
Rhodiola Benefits for Brain -Adaptogen, Nootropic, Anti-fatigue, Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, Protects Against Neurodegeneration. Rhodiola For Anxiety and Depression
Rhodiola Benefits: Better Sleep, Anti-Fatigue, Enhances Work Productivity, Increases Athletic Performance And Speeds Up Recovery
More Rhodiola Benefits: Anti-Aging/ Longevity
Rhodiola Uses For Hormonal Balance- May Help Treat Infertility (Women) and ED (Men)
Rhodiola Rosea Weight Loss
More Rhodiola Uses: Rhodiola Benefits For Heart
Rhodiola Benefits As An Antioxidant, Detox, Anti-cancer Supplement
Rhodiola Dosage. How To Choose A Rhodiola Supplement
Rhodiola Side Effects and Rhodiola Interactions
1.About Rhodiola
Rhodiola Rosea, also known as “golden root” or “arctic root” is a perennial plant native to the arctic areas of Europe and Asia, but can also grow in Canada and US. As a medicinal herb, is been described first in Greek medicine about 2000 years ago. For the past few centuries, Rhodiola had been used in traditional medicine of Russia, Scandinavia, and other countries. Is also a popular herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Hundreds of scientific studies are now supporting the benefits of this herb.
Why does is work so well ? Perhaps because the plant itself had to learn to adapt to harsh environment, as it grows in the arid sandy soil, at very high altitudes of the arctic areas. This means the plant has been exposed to low oxygen, little water and a lot of sun irradiation. In the process of evolution, the plant started to produce powerful compounds to survive, protect itself and develop resilience.
2.Rhodiola Uses/Benefits – Traditional Use
Rhodiola had been used in traditional folk medicine to boost physical and emotional endurance, fertility, virility and longevity. It is recommended to help build resilience to high altitude sickness and manage fatigue, depression, hysteria, headaches, pain, as well as anemia, digestive problems, infections (including tuberculosis, colds and flu) and cancer [1].
Rhodiola Health Benefits -Modern Research. Summary:
Rhodiola has been included in official Russian medicine for almost five decades. Standard preparations are also widely recognized and recommended in various Scandinavian and Eastern European Countries and in the Traditional Chinese Medicine. A big problem with scientific research on Rhodiola: not all the studies are translated into English.
Rhodiola contains plenty of plant chemicals with medicinal qualities. Researchers isolated 140 compounds from its roots and rhizome .Technical: Rhodiola rosea contains polyphenols such as flavonoids, proanthocyanidines, tyrosol, and cinnamyl alcohol, glycosides, organic acids, essential oils, sugars, fats, alcohols, and proteins. Rosavin, cinnamyl alcohol, salidroside, and tyrosol are the major components of Rhodiola plants.
Rhodiola shows adaptogenic effects including: neuroprotection, cardioprotection, anti-fatigue, anti-depression, anti-anxiety, nootropic/ increase mental performance, promotes increased life span and acts as a brain stimulant. life-span increasing effects and CNS stimulating activity. Technical: several mechanisms of actions involved: interactions with HPA-system (cortisol-reducing), protein kinases p-JNK, nitric oxide, and defense mechanism proteins (e.g. heat shock proteins Hsp 70 and FoxO/DAF-16) [2],[3].
3.Rhodiola Benefits for Brain -Adaptogen, Nootropic, Anti-fatigue, Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory, Protects Against Neurodegeneration. Rhodiola For Anxiety and Depression
Extensive research from Russian and Scandinavian scientists had been focused on its benefits to boost work productivity and its anti-stress effects, as an adaptogen. Adaptogens are herbs that help you cope with both physical and emotional stress. Off note, Ashwagandha, Korean and American Ginseng, Brahmi Bacopa and Brahmi Gotu Kola, Maca. Holy Basil and Eleuthero are other adaptogens [1].
I wrote about multiple neurotransmitter imbalances related to MS and other brain conditions here, here, here, here, and here. Rhodiola improves acetylcholine levels. It also helps prevent or ameliorate age related dysfunction in the brain areas related to memory and learning.
Rhodiola works on other neurotransmitters as well. It stimulates norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine (nicotinic receptors) and GABA in the brain. It also enhances the effects of these neurotransmitters by increasing the permeability of the blood brain barrier to precursors of dopamine and serotonin [1],[4]. It promotes neuroplasticity by increasing BDNF [5], in addition to improving neurotransmitter levels.
Rhodiola for anxiety and depression: Encouraging results exist for the use of Rhodiola in mild to moderate depression, and generalized anxiety, according to a review of multiple studies [6]. A review of two randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trials seven open-label studies suggests a possible antidepressant action for Rhodiola extract [7]. It also seem to be effective when combined with saffron- one study that evaluated this combination for treating mild to moderate depression found improvement in symptoms in 85.4% of the participants [8].
As an antioxidant, it protects the brain from free radicals. As an adaptogen, it helps a person deal with both physical and emotional stress. Thus, it has a very interesting, dual action: it stimulates the cognition while supporting emotional calm. As a result, it improves both immediate cognitive and memory performance and long term preservation of the brain function. Rhodiola seem to work well with prescription drugs, too. When combined with piracetam, it helped improved cognitive decline associated with posttraumatic and vascular lesions of the brain. When combined with antipsychotic medication, it helped reduce the side effects of the drugs (Parkinsonian symptoms) [1].
4.Rhodiola Benefits: Better Sleep, Anti-Fatigue, Enhances Work Productivity, Increases Athletic Performance And Speeds Up Recovery
There are several studies supporting the benefits of Rhodiola to boost energy and decrease fatigue, especially stress related fatigue [9], although there are also studies showing mixed results. In Russia and Scandinavian countries, Rhodiola is a popular supplement recommended to increase work productivity, being known to promote both physical and emotional strength. Research studies found Rhodiola beneficial for improving fatigue, work productivity, sleep, poor appetite, irritability and headaches (all symptoms associated with asthenia), and the duration of treatment lasted from 10 days to 4 months. Another study found 64% improvement in symptoms of asthenia in the participants [1].
Rhodiola Increase physical performance and shortens recovery time after intense exercise in both athletes and normal individuals exposed with strenuous exercise. Adaptogens like Rhodiola work differently than stimulant herbs during forced, exhaustive workouts. Rhodiola stimulates without causing after burn out effect. On the other hand, stimulants increase initially the work capacity followed by a significant decrease of work capacity. These stimulant herbs also deplete the brain from dopamine and norepinephrine and decrease conditioned reflexes [1]. Rhodiola can help manage insomnia due to its effects on GABA a receptors, overall balancing the neurotransmitters and by lowering stress response.
More Rhodiola Benefits: Anti-Aging/ Longevity
Rhodiola shows serious potential as an anti-aging agent. There are no studies in humans yet, but Rhodiola was found able to extend the lifespan of yeast, worms and fruit flies. More recently, a study revealed that Rhodiola extract significantly prolongs the lifespan of the silkworm and protects against heat stress. (technical/mechanism of actions: increases the activity of the major antioxidant enzymes, glutathione S-transferase and catalase, and alters the content of glutathione and malondialdehyde. Also, increases the expression of BmFoxO, which is a downstream regulator of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway in the silkworm) [10],[11]
6.Rhodiola Uses For Hormonal Balance- May Help Treat Infertility (Women) and ED (Men)
Rhodiola is an adaptogen. By definition, an adaptogen has a normalizing (rather than stimulating) action on hormone or other parameters, it bring them in balance. For example, rhodiola improves thyroid levels in cases of hypothyroidism, without causing excess hormones (hyperthyroidism). It also promotes the health of other glands: thymus, adrenal glands. It has a positive effects on sex hormones- for women, it appears to be helpful to treat amenorrhea and infertility. For men, it improves erectile dysfunction and/or premature ejaculation [1].
7.Rhodiola Rosea Weight Loss
There is limited research about Rhodiola’ effects for weight loss, but I beleive it works. I am looking at the mechanism of action of the active ingredients (see above), and its overall effects (anti-stress, anti-anxiety, anti depression and its impact on hormonal balance and metabolism). In animal studies, Rhodiola was found beneficial to reduce visceral fat (the fat surrounding the organs, linked with increased waistline in humans), decrease the stress hormone cortisol (linked with overeating), boost norepinephrine as well as lipase, the enzyme that is responsible for breaking down the fats. It should work even better when combined C. aurantium (bitter orange) [12] or with exercise.
More Rhodiola Uses: Rhodiola Benefits For Heart
Rhodiola protects the heart against damage and increases heart variability (mechanisms: decreases myocardial catecholamines and cAMP levels; reduces adrenal catecholamine release, modulates ANS)
Multiple clinical trials found Rhodiola beneficial for treating ischemic heart disease/angina- either alone, or in combination with other herbs [13],[1].
9.Rhodiola Benefits As An Antioxidant, Detox, Anti-cancer Supplement
Due to abundant phenolic compounds, Rhodiola has strong antioxidant properties. It appears that Rhodiola has the ability to decrease toxicity from chemo drugs (cyclophosphamide, rubomycin, and adriamycin), while enhancing their anti cancer effects. Preliminary studies show potential for treating colon, bladder, gastric, liver and ovarian cancers, as well as melanoma [1],[14],[15],[16],[17].
10.Rhodiola Dosage. How To Choose A Rhodiola Supplement .
Rhodiola rosea extracts used in most human clinical studies were standardized to minimum 3 percent rosavins and 0.8-1 percent salidroside because the naturally occurring ratio of these compounds in R. rosea root is approximately 3:1 [1] .The typical recommended dose of Rhodiola rosea extract (containing rosavin) is around 250–700 milligrams total per day, divided in 2 doses or taken once. I believe the dosage should really be adjusted to you needs and whether your are taking other adaptogens. I usually prefer the non-standardized powder from the herb as close as possible to their natural state. However, when it comes to Rhodiola, do recommend the standardized form (I’ve seen reports/ issues with some supplements and some don’t contain the real Rhodiola rosea).
11.Rhodiola Side Effects and Rhodiola Interactions
A review of multiple studies reveal that Rhodiola has an excellent safety profile. Based on a review of multiple clinical trials, Rhodiola lacks interaction with other drugs and did not cause adverse reactions [18]. Mild side effects may occur and include dry mouth or feeling dizzy. Should be used cautiously if you have low blood pressure.
