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With celebrities like Bella Hadid dipping their toes into functional medicine entrepreneurship, adaptogens are having a moment, especially in food and beverages.
Hadid’s brand Kin Euphorics creates a line of “functional beverages” containing adaptogens, nootropics and botanicals that, according to the company’s website, have positive effects on consumers’ “physiological functions to achieve an elevated state of health, mood or well-being.”
Often, adaptogen-infused beverages are marketed as alternatives to alcohol or coffee with pleasant stress-relieving side effects, while snacks containing adaptogens often contain other “superfoods” for health-conscious consumers. But what exactly are adaptogens?
Dana Ellis Hunnes, PhD, MPH, RD, senior dietitian at UCLA Health in California, tells SELF. Medpage Today Adaptogens are “derived from the herbs, leaves, and roots of specific plants or fungi and may help our bodies manage stress or more quickly restore the body’s natural balance or homeostasis after exposure to stressful situations or stressors.” These stresses may be physical, such as burns or physical trauma; physical, such as work stress; or psychological, such as emotional stress.
Adaptogens have been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years around the world, and search internet There is a continued rise in demand for adaptogens.
Hunnes said scientific research on adaptogens is sparse but slowly growing, partly because most adaptogens are treated like supplements, not drugs, and thus do not need to go through the rigorous process of FDA approval.
“For the most part, supplements simply have to be shown that they don’t cause harm,” Hunnes said. “They don’t have to prove that they’re beneficial.”
The three adaptogens with the most research behind them are ashwagandha, rhodiola, and ginseng, says Lauren Shawn, MD, an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Ashwagandha (withania somnifera), commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine, is derived from an evergreen shrub and is thought to reduce anxiety and depression. Rhodiola is used to reduce fatigue, depression, and pain, and ginseng root is used to combat fatigue.
Some benefits have been found – but there are also potential disadvantages. For example, ashwagandha can low cortisol levelsBut it has also been linked with an increased risk liver injury And increased testosterone level.
Nevertheless, research on these adaptogens is largely limited by small sample sizes and short time-frames.
“We don’t really have data on long-term use,” Shawn said.
Hunnes said there has been little research on the interactions between adaptogens and medications. Anyone taking antidepressants and other prescriptions should talk to their doctor first about any possible interactions. In general, Hunnes would recommend that people who are pregnant or breastfeeding not take adaptogens in excess. The same applies for people with organ transplants or immune deficiencies.
Hunnes said doctors should be familiar with popular adaptogens, their purported benefits and any potential drug interactions. She also recommends asking patients if they’re taking any herbal supplements or other natural remedies — and why.
Shawn encourages physicians to approach this conversation with curiosity rather than judgment and to explain why you’re asking about it. With the rise of the “Make America Healthy Again” ideology and skepticism about the pharmaceutical industry, Shawn said more people are looking for so-called natural methods of stress management. She advises patients to be skeptical of the powerful supplement industry and be wary of any product making sweeping claims. Now that adaptogens are in more foods and beverages, many patients probably don’t even consider them supplements and don’t even think to mention them to their doctor.
“A lot of people still have this mentality that if something is coming from a plant, it must somehow be safe,” Shawn said. “But, you know, there are poisonous plants too.”
For people who occasionally drink adaptogen-rich beverages, there is probably no harm. But for those who treat adaptogens as part of their daily health regimen, Shawn said, “You really have to treat it more like it’s potentially like a drug.”
