In a world that seems to be pretty much designed to make us feel stressed and out of balance, our lord and master the social media algorithm loves to dish us up some apparently simple solutions. One of the most recent? Adaptogens. If your “For You” page is yet to explain what on Earth they are, don’t worry – we’ve got you.

What are adaptogens?

Adaptogens are a broad group of substances including herbs, roots, and mushrooms, that are alleged to keep the body in “balance”. That doesn’t mean any old herb in your garden will do; to be considered an adaptogen (according to one commonly cited set of standards), a substance has to be non-toxic, have non-specific properties (targeting various biological, chemical, and physical factors), and have a “normalizing” effect on the body, often claimed to help the body “return to homeostasis”.

Common examples of substances that apparently fit those criteria include ashwagandha, eleuthero (Siberian ginseng), holy basil, and Arctic or golden root, among several others. If any of those sound familiar, it’s because many of them have long been used in traditional and herbal medicine practices.

As for what they might be used for, you could probably name any health problem and find someone has claimed that adaptogens can help it, but one of the most common claims is that they can help to reduce stress and, more recently, prevent or treat COVID-19 (more on that shortly).

Do they actually have any benefits?

If you want a general indication as to whether or not there’s enough evidence to support the use of adaptogens to treat various ailments, look no further than the FDA; they aren’t approved by the agency as a drug. Instead, adaptogens are considered to be dietary supplements, which aren’t evaluated for safety and efficacy.

That means that companies marketing adaptogen products can’t make unsubstantiated claims about their impact on health. Take a peek in the FDA’s archive of warning letters and you’ll find that, over the last few years, the agency has issued multiple warning letters to companies regarding such claims about adaptogens. 

For example, in 2020, the FDA sent out warning letters to two separate companies and one Amazon associate after they falsely represented that various products, including adaptogens, were safe and effective ways of preventing, treating, or curing COVID-19. None of those products had gone through the rigorous FDA approval or authorization process that would allow them to justify their claims.

To get to a point where adaptogens could be considered to actually live up to the hype, there needs to be far more and higher quality research. That’s not to say there isn’t any existing research at all, but it has some pretty big problems with quality and generalizability.

On a single study level, take a recent clinical trial studying the effects of ashwagandha in treating chronic stress, with the findings published in the journal Nutrients. A total of 98 participants were split into four groups: for eight weeks, three of them received a daily dose of either 125, 250, or 500 milligrams of an ashwagandha root and leaf extract, with the fourth taking a placebo.

The results appear promising; even the group on the lowest dose of the extract appeared to have a significant reduction in signs of stress compared to the placebo group. However, there are multiple problems with the study that give those findings less weight – first and foremost there were only 98 participants, making it difficult to generalize the results to the population level.

The wellbeing of the participants was measured with various self-reported questionnaires. While the particular stress-assessing tool used in the study – Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) – is widely used in research, it’s not a clinical diagnostic tool, and the self-reporting nature of that and the other questionnaires used adds a hefty sprinkle of unreliability.

That being said, the researchers also measured biochemical markers of stress like salivary amylase (an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates) and cortisol levels and found significant differences between the placebo and treatment groups. 

In short, it’s not to say that there isn’t any potential whatsoever, but further studies with bigger samples are needed to start generalizing the findings to everyone. Similar conclusions have been made in meta-analyses, a method that combines the data of multiple individual studies to reach a conclusion.

For example, a 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis assessing the effect of ashwagandha on stress and anxiety, using data from nine different randomized clinical trials, concluded that extracts of the plant led to “statistically significant improvements” in stress and anxiety, as well as reductions in cortisol levels.

It found that while ashwagandha was generally safe, there were some mild side effects that came with taking it, and that further research was required to determine the safety of consuming it in the long term.

The authors also pointed out that there was a considerable amount of variability between the individual studies in the positive effects seen; this might be attributed to differences in the extracts used, the authors suggest, but also differences in the participants involved and their baseline levels of stress.

Together with the small sample sizes in many of the included studies, it makes it difficult to generalize their results. Alongside improvements in overall study quality, the authors suggest that future research into ashwagandha’s effects needs to be more standardized.

The bottom line

In the search for a cure-all for the pressures of dealing with the modern world, current scientific evidence doesn’t support adaptogens as the solution. In fact, as with all dietary supplements, the lack of oversight and scientific evidence means that they should be approached with caution.

For example, it’s possible that supplements in general might contain other substances that you may not expect to be taking, which could interact with medications or have other unintended effects.

Also, as with any herbal supplement, doses of compounds in adaptogens can be inconsistent from batch to batch due to a plethora of factors affecting the compounds produced during growth.

If someone wants to take some sort of adaptogen, it’s recommended to speak to a healthcare professional first, as they can help a patient figure out the underlying cause of their problem and thus the best way to solve it. There are certain health circumstances where particular caution is advised; for example, it’s recommended to avoid ashwagandha and eleuthero when pregnant or breastfeeding, or if taking certain medications.

All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text, images, and links may be edited, removed, or added to at a later date to keep information current.

The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.