Adaptogens - plant power for nerves, hormones and the immune system

Adaptogens are more popular and in demand than ever before. Here is a brief summary of what adaptogens are and what they can do. The first part summarises excerpts from the book "Adaptogens, 1: Herbs for Longevity and Everyday Wellness" by Adriana Ayales, founder of Anima Mundi and herbal expert. Following this, you will find excerpts from study results and medical journals that additionally support everything described above.

What are adaptogens

Adaptogens are remarkable, purely plant-based substances, biologically active substances that help the body to adapt to stress and to regain its very own physical as well as psychological balance.

There are many herbs that many of us love that basically have adaptogenic chemistry. Examples include reishi, suma, maca and many others. However, this does not mean that they can officially be called "adaptogenic". The list below includes those that were rigorously tested as early as the 1950s and are considered primary official adaptogens. It is only due to lack of research that many other potential adaptogens have not been officially shortlisted. Therefore, "secondary adaptogens" such as Reishi, Gynostemma, Maca, He Shou Wu, Shatavari, Amla and many other plants are not technically primary adaptogens. However, their respective chemistry has significant parallels to known adaptogenic qualifications and adheres closely to them.

Primary adaptogens

Ashwagandha - Withania somnifera
Cordyceps - Cordyceps sinensis
Eleuthero - Eleutherococcus senticosus
Ginseng - Panax ginseng, Panax quinquefolius
Holy basil - Ocimum tenuiflorum, Ocimum sanctum
Liquorice - Glycyrrhiza glabra
Rhodiola - Rhodiola rosea
Schisandra - Schisandra chinensis
Shilajit - Asphaltum bitumen

What do adaptogens do

Adaptogens increase the body's resistance to various stressors, including physical, emotional, chemical and environmental factors. They also protect against acute and chronic stress, which, as we all know, has become so normal in this day and age that some people don't even notice it anymore and instead wonder why their immune system isn't working properly. I was one of those people, by the way. The normalising effect of adaptogens on the body, especially on the endocrine and immune systems, makes them particularly unique, even though each individual adaptogen works differently for each person. By having what is called a "non-specific" effect, they influence the basic functions of the organism, restore homeostasis (NG note: balance of physiological body functions; stability of the ratio of blood pressure, body temperature, blood pH, etc.) through their regenerative properties and help to harmonise body, mind and spirit.

Modern clinical research is increasingly listing evidence that many of the traditions about these herbs are indeed true. In terms of scientific and clinical studies, the primary adaptogenic herbs have received the most attention. The wide range of healing effects they offer covers almost all areas of the body. 

Adaptogens use their balancing powers to create strength, energy and balance in the body, especially in the neuroendocrine system and the immune system. The neuroendocrine system is understood as the combination of the endocrine system (hormone producing and producing area in the body) and the nervous system. This system deals with chemical communication in the body via hormones that work in conjunction with the nervous system.

The aim of the nervous system is to create homeostasis (balance of physiological body functions) for all internal reactions, which helps to keep the body healthy and protected. Within the endocrine system we find the famous HPA axis, a complex interplay between the hypothalamus (vital part of the diencephalon, regulates all vegetative and endocrine processes and controls, among other things, breathing, circulation, body temperature, sexual behaviour and fluid and food intake), the pituitary gland (an organ about the size of a hazelnut in the central nervous system, which is the birthplace, synthesis site and release site for numerous hormones) and the adrenal glands.

The hypothalamus communicates with the rest of the body via the autonomic nervous system and hormone releases. H monitors and evaluates everything that goes on in the body and then tells its "personal assistant", the pituitary gland (P), what to do. The personal assistant P informs the "general managers" (the target organs) who then recruit the "workers" (specific biochemical processes) in the appropriate tissues or organs of the body. The tissues recruited or activated include the visceral organs - heart, lungs, intestines, kidneys, liver and pancreas - as well as many lesser-known parts of the body such as the gallbladder, spleen, blood vessels and skeletal muscles.

Phew, that was like a little flight through the biology of the body and here especially our nerves and hormones, wasn't it?! I find it extremely interesting to understand what is going on in my body. So if you take into account the stress of our modern times, the noise we are constantly surrounded by, the overstimulating sensory impressions we are constantly exposed to and the permanent time pressure we are under, it is no wonder that the longing for peace and closeness to nature is emerging as an ever stronger need in society. And it is therefore just as unsurprising that herbs are enjoying an increasingly strong popularity in today's world. We are in a time of profound change in history, and herbs with adaptogenic properties have been identified to protect our bodies by helping them adapt to the constant changes and stressors on our planet.

Each adaptogen tunes the body to a set of energy pathways and produces a non-specific homeostatic response in the body and mind. As has been researched, because of their normalising effect and bidirectionality in the body, they can be seen to have an intelligence of their own as to what the body needs. Because they work so closely with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, each adaptogen is ultimately experienced individually by each person, as each person also has their own internal recipe for balance. Adaptogens act at multiple sites in the body, but primarily on the neuroendocrine system, which includes the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands, as well as the sympathoadrenal system (or SAS, a physiological connection between the sympathetic nervous system and the adrenal medulla, crucial to an organism's physiological response to external stimuli). Adaptogens are also directly related to our organs, which shape our individual, primarily nervous, perception of the world and in part control basic survival processes such as intuition, pain response, sexual function, blood pressure, circadian rhythm, stress response and much more. 

Modern studies have shown that adaptogens can non-specifically improve the resilience of the human body under a variety of external stress conditions in a multi-layered and multi-channel network-like manner, particularly by influencing the immune system, the neuroendocrine system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

What do we as a beauty and wellness boutique have to do with adaptogens anyway, you may ask. Well, these herbal powerhouses not only help you feel stronger and more stable, they also help your skin heal and stay healthy and beautiful. Silica and calcium, along with other minerals, stimulate the body's collagen production and strengthen your hair, nails and skin from the inside out.

Excerpts from studies on adaptogens  

"Adaptogens" are synthetic compounds (bromantane, levamisole, aphobazole, bemethyl, etc.) or plant extracts that have the ability to increase the body's stability to physical stress without increasing oxygen consumption. Extracts of Panax ginseng, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Rhaponticum carthamoides, Rhodiola rosea and Schisandra chinensis are considered naturally occurring adaptogens and, in particular, plant adaptogens. (...) The use of natural adaptogens by humans has a long history - they are used to recover from illness, physical weakness, memory disorders and other conditions. About 50 years ago, herbal adaptogens were first used in professional sports because of their high potential to increase the body's resistance to stress and improve physical endurance. Although many people now take herbal adaptogens, human clinical trials are limited. The data from the meta-analysis showed that herbal adaptogens could offer a range of benefits in the treatment of chronic fatigue, cognitive impairment and immune protection. There is great potential for the future approval of medicines containing plant adaptogens for therapeutic purposes."

(Source: Plant Adaptogens-History and Future Perspectives, Nutrients, 2021 Aug 20;13(8):2861. doi: 10.3390/nu13082861. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34445021/)

"The findings from preclinical and clinical studies with Andrographis paniculata, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Glycyrrhiza spp, Panax spp, Rhodiola rosea, Schisandra chinensis, Withania somnifera, their combination products and melatonin suggest that adaptogens may be useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of viral infections at all stages of the inflammatory process, as well as in supporting the recovery of the organism, by (i) modulating innate and adaptive immunity, (ii) anti-inflammatory action, (iii) detoxification and repair of oxidative stress-induced damage in damaged cells, (iv) direct antiviral action by inhibiting viral docking or replication, and (v) improving quality of life during convalescence."

(Source: The Role of Adaptogens in Prophylaxis and Treatment of Viral Respiratory Infections, Pharmaceuticals (Basel), 2020 Sep 8;13(9):236. doi: 10.3390/ph13090236._ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32911682/)

"Adaptogens are stress response modifiers that increase an organism's nonspecific resistance to stress by enhancing its ability to adapt and survive. (...) Molecular targets, signalling pathways and networks common to adaptogens have been identified. They are related to stress hormones and important mediators of homeostasis regulation. In this context, the mechanisms of action of adaptogens are specifically related to stress-protective activity and increased adaptive capacity of the organism. Consequently, adaptogens have multifaceted beneficial effects on chronic inflammation, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative cognitive disorders, metabolic disorders, cancer and other age-related diseases. Current and potential applications of adaptogens mainly relate to stress-related fatigue and cognitive function, mental illness and behavioural disorders. Their prophylactic use in healthy individuals to reduce stress and prevent age-related diseases seems justified. It is very unlikely that the pharmacological activity of a phytochemical is specific and associated with only one type of receptor, especially for adaptogenic compounds that affect key mediators of the adaptive stress response at intracellular and extracellular levels of communication."

Source: Understanding adaptogenic activity: specificity of the pharmacological action of adaptogens and other phytochemicals_Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017 Aug;1401(1):49-64. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13399. Epub 2017 Jun 22._ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28640972/)

"Originally, adaptogens were defined as substances that improve the "state of non-specific resistance" to stress, a physiological state associated with various neuroendocrine immune system disorders. Studies in animals and isolated neuronal cells have shown that adaptogens have neuroprotective, anti-fatigue, antidepressant, anxiolytic, nootropic and CNS stimulating effects. In addition, numerous clinical studies demonstrate that adaptogens have anti-fatigue effects that increase mental work capacity in the face of stress and fatigue, particularly in tolerating mental fatigue and improving attention. Recent pharmacological studies with a number of adaptogens have also established these effects at the molecular level. It has been discovered that the stress-protective effects of adaptogens are linked to the regulation of homeostasis via multiple mechanisms of action involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the regulation of key mediators of the stress response such as molecular chaperones (e.g. e.g. HSP70), stress-activated c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase 1 (JNK1), forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factor DAF-16, cortisol and nitric oxide."

(Effects of Adaptogens on the Central Nervous System and the Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Their Stress-Protective Activity, Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2010 Jan 19;3(1):188-224. doi: 10.3390/ph3010188, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27713248/)

Note

It is important for us to emphasise again and again that the intake and use of adaptogens in no way replaces medical treatment or even mitigates the need to consult a doctor. Adaptogens can support you in your mental and physical health and this is your own responsibility. At North Glow, we carry a select range of adaptogen-rich products from the American brand Anima Mundi. I can say for myself that the products have become an integral part of my everyday life and the daily routine of many of our clients and have indeed changed many things in a positive way. You have to try it out to find out. You can access our range of Anima Mundi products by clicking on the following picture. I wish you much joy in discovering them. Daniela from North Glow