GENERAL INFORMATION: Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea) is a popular plant in traditional medical systems in Eastern Europe and Asia. The root of the plant, known as arctic root or golden root, has been used for hundreds of years to increase resistance to a number of physical and mental stresses and to promote overall longevity. Rhodiola has been intensively studied in Russia and Scandinavia for more than thirty-five years. Rhodiola is similar to other known plant "adaptogens" (see below) such as siberian ginseng and panax ginseng, both of which have been found to produce favorable changes in a variety of diverse areas of physiological function including central nervous activity, cardiovascular function, and immune potentiation. The active constituents in Rhodiola are believed to be rosavin, rosarin, rosin, and salidroside.
AN "ADAPTOGENIC" HERB: Rhodiola is considered to be an "adaptogen" which means it helps in stressful circumstances and also helps the body return to normal balance. As an example, an adaptogen might lower blood pressure in someone who has high blood pressure, but raise it in another who has low blood pressure. The adaptogenic affects of Rhodiola are well supported by research (see below). The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine has a specific set of criteria that must be satisfied for a substance to be properly be termed an adaptogen:
1. Must be innocuous (harmless) and cause minimal disorders in the physiological functions of an organism.
2. Must have a nonspecific action (should increase resistance to adverse influences by a wide range of physical, chemical, and biochemical factors).
3. Usually has a normalizing action irrespective of the direction of the pathological state.
Russian researchers have so categorized Rhodiola as an adaptogen due to its observed ability to increase resistance to a variety of chemical, biological, and physical stressors.
ADAPTOGENIC RESEARCH: The Volgograd Medical Academy in Russia conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola on students during a stressful examination period. The study, performed over 20 days, revealed that "rhodiola students" showed significant improvement in their physical fitness, mental fatigue, and nuero-motoric tests than did the placebo group (1). A study aimed at investigating the effect of repeated low-dose treatment of Rhidiola at the department of Neurology at the Armenian State Medical University in Yereven found significant statistical improvement in the mental performance or "Fatigue Index" in a group of fifty-six young, healthy physicians (2). Another exercise/work capacity study, this time performed on mice, found rhodiola extracts along with other adaptogens to statistically increase running time on the treadbane of the animals by the 10th day of medication (3). A general study on the ability of phyto-adaptogens (including Rhodiola) to protect against environment stressors was undertaken by the Department of Molecular Biology at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. The group was able to confirm the definition of phyto-adaptogens 'as being universal enhancers of non-specific resistance against different kinds of stress conditions' (4).
ANTIOXIDATIVE/ANTI-AGING: The College of Pharmacy at Chung Ang University in Seoul, Korea isolated compounds from Rhodiola extract to exhibit significant scavenging effects against particular free radicals (highly-reactive and unstable molecules that can cause serious cellular damage) (5). The Research Institute at Toyoma Medical and Pharmaceutical University in Japan found anti-aging action in Rhodiola to be due primarily to active-oxygen scavenging activity (6).
HEART: A Russian group observed anti-arrhythmic effects in Rhodiola (arrhythmia: an irregularity in the force or rhythm of the heartbeat) (7). Another scientific group in Russia suggested antistressor and cardioprotective effects (8). Finally, an additional Russian study suggested Rhodiola to prevent reduction of coronary flow and to exhibit protective effects on the heart in general (9).
REFERENCES:
(1) Spasov AA, Wilkman 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 repeated low-dose regimen. Phytomedicine. 2000 Apr; 7(2): 85-9.
(2) Darbinyan V, Kteyan A, Panossian A, Gabrielian E, Wilkman G, Wagner H. Rhodiola rosea in stress induced fatiguea double blind crossover 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.
(3) Azizov AP, Seifulla RD. The effect of elton, leveton, fitoton, and adapton on the work capacity of experimental animals. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1998 May-Jun; 61(3): 61-3.
(4) Boon-Niermeijer EK, van den Berg A, Wilkman G, Wiegant FA. Phyto-adaptogens protect against environmental stress-induced death of embryos from the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Phytomedicine. 2000 Oct; 7(5): 389-99.
(5) Lee MW, Lee YA, Park HM, Toh SH, Lee EJ, Jang HD, Kim YH. Antioxidative phenolic compounds from the roots of Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Bor. Arch Pharm Res. 2000 Oct; 23(5): 455-8.
(6) Ohsugi M, Fan W, Hase K, Xiong Q, Tezuka Y, Komatsu K, Namba T, Saitoh T, Tazawa K, Kadota S. Active-oxygen scavenging activity of traditional nourishing-tonic herbal medicines and active constituents of Rhodiola sacra. J Ethnopharmacol. 1999 Oct; 67(1): 111-9.
(7) Lishmanov IuB, Maslova LV, Maslova LV, Maslov LN, Dan'shina EN. The anit-arrhythmia effect of Rhodiola rosea and its possible mechanism. Biull Eksp Biol Med. 1993 Aug; 116(8): 175-6.
(8) Maslova LV, Kondrat'ev Blu, Maslov LN, Lishmanov IuB. The cardioprotective and antiadregenic activity of an extract of Rhodiola rosea in stress. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1994 Nov-Dec; 57 (6): 61-3.
(9) Lishmanov IuB, Naumova AV, Afanas'ev SA, Maslov LN. Contribution of opioid system to realization of inotropic effects of Rhodiola rosea extracts in ischemic and reperfusion heart damage in vitro. Eksp Klin Farmakol. 1997 May-Jun; 60(3): 34.
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