Overview 

• What Is Ashwagandha?

• Ashwagandha Benefits 

• Ashwagandha The Adaptogen 

• Reductionism VS Network Pharmacology 

• Number One Reason Why you should choose Ashwagandha Shoden 

• When Was Ashwagandha Shoden Released?

• Where To Buy?

• Conclusion

• References 

What Is Ashwagandha?

Ashwagandha is a prolific evergreen shrub with exceptional drought resistance that thrives in sunny, arid climates. It has been used for more than 3,000 years in Ayurveda, the oldest branch of medicine in the world.

Ashwagandha has been used for thousands of years to treat everything from sleeplessness to sperm count issues. In Indian culture, Ashwagandha is referred to as the “queen of Ayurveda.”

Ashwagandha is predominantly grown in India, a country with a strong Ayurvedic culture. And over the past few decades, a growing body of contemporary research has supported the assertions made by this traditional branch of medicine that ashwagandha is a “wonder herb.” But if traditional and modern medicine have conflicting viewpoints on medicine, how can they reach an understanding? Well, first, we are going to look at the benefits Ashwagandha has to offer to better understand why these two worlds are colliding.

Ashwagandha Queen of Ayurveda (Benefits)

Improves Quality Of Sleep [1]

Ashwagandha has been shown to activate the GABA receptors in your brain. GABA has an important job as the brain’s primary inhibitor and plays an important role in regulating a healthy sleeping pattern [2]. Ashwagandha itself does not contain GABA but has other pharmacologically active ingredients that are able to affect GABA receptors, more specifically the GABAAρ1 receptor [3]. Other common medications that are GABA antagonistic are benzodiazepines and alcohol, but unlike these substances, ashwagandha has shown to be well tolerated and safe [4]  [5].

Increase Testosterone[6]

A randomized double blind placebo-controlled crossover study done on healthy, overweight, 40–70-year-old men to test for the effect ashwagandha has on vitality was conducted by a team of researchers. They performed a DHEA-S test (a test used to measure levels of steroidal hormones, hormones that your body converts into estrogen or testosterone) and found an increase in salivary testosterone of 15% and a DHEA-S increase of 18%. Testosterone is a vital sex hormone in males and is responsible for regulating a healthy sexual drive as well as adding muscle mass.

Can Increase Muscle Strength And Recovery[7]

A double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study was done on 57 young males to test Ashwagandha’s effects on muscle strength and size in resistance training. The study found that supplementing with ashwagandha during resistance training increased muscle size and improved muscle recovery time compared to resistance training without supplementation. 

Helps Regulate Inflammation[8]

This is a highly fascinating study that collected blood from healthy people, RA patients, and synovial fluid from RA patients. The study team discovered that ashwagandha was able to block TNF-, IL-1, and IL-12 when samples were exposed to lps, a common gram-negative bacteria cell wall component utilized to cause inflammation in research animals. The cytokines TNF-, IL-1, and IL-12 are proteins that have a variety of functions, but are mostly used by your immune system to deliver intracellular signals that lead to inflammation.

Anti-Anxiety[9]

In a 60 day randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 60 adults with mild anxiety participated in the study and were either given a placebo pill or ashwagandha. The participants given ashwagandha saw a decrease of 41% in the HAM-A (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale), a clinically based questionnaire used to rate anxiety, and saw a decrease in morning cortisol.

Increases Sperm Count[10]

In a this pilot study involving 46 oligospermic (low sperm count) males, researchers discovered that ashwagandha increased sperm concentration and motility significantly.

Ashwagandha The Adaptogen 

Ashwagandha has been around for a very long time, and in that time it has gained a great deal of notoriety, earning names such as Indian ginseng and queen of Ayurveda. Because Ashwagandha is a jack-of-all-trades, it is classified as an “adaptogen.” What exactly is an adaptogen? Adaptogens are stress response modifiers that increase an organism’s resistance to multiple stressors in a nonspecific manner, thereby promoting adaptation and survival. [11] Ashwagandha contains over 40 bioactive phytochemicals known as withanolides. The mechanisms of action of these withanolides are still a bit of an enigma, but many scientists argue that they modulate the HPA axis. The HPA axis is characterized as an interaction rather than a body structure. The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland are involved in this interaction. The HPA axis plays a significant role in regulating stress levels and a person’s health. Cortisol is the ultimate product of the HPA axis and is widely recognized as the body’s stress hormone.

At healthy levels, cortisol is not only necessary and beneficial, but also non-harmful. However, excessive cortisol production can lead to serious physical and mental problems. So why does the body sometimes produce excessive amounts of cortisol? Long-term stress, hypoglycemia, and certain diseases such as Cushing’s disease and diabetes destabilize your body’s homeostasis, causing you to produce more cortisol, which increases stress and blood glucose levels. Although Ashwagandha’s mechanism of action remains unknown, one thing is known: Ashwagandha can reduce cortisol levels [12] [13] [14] [15] and is therefore believed to impact the HPA axis.

Reductionism Vs Network Pharmacology(Holistic) 

I will admit there is a bit of controversy surrounding the word “adaptogen,” as it does not fit the methodological reductionist mold usually used in pharmacology. I imagine that most of you, like myself when I first started my research, have no idea what reductionism is or what that has to do with ashwagandha. In the world of science, the different branches of science could be visualized as an ecosystem of domains struggling to make sense of the big picture. Scientists, metaphorically armed with a magnifying glass and ready to dive deep into their respective fields, inadvertently shrink their field of vision looking through this lens and become bonded by the attention they sacrificed for the progression in their respective careers. More and more, their work becomes specialized, looking more specifically at the parts that make up the structure (or topic) of their research field. They start looking at problems through this specialized magnifying glass of reductionism. And for good reason, reductionism has been the guiding principle for the foundation of the legacy sciences. So what’s the problem? The problem is Reducing complexity into divided parts to better understand the structure leaves out valuable information about the interconnectedness of said complexity. For example, reducing biology to physics is possible but would not yield much insight on how biology works because you are trying to reduce a heterogeneous system that is predicated on contingency[16] to a homogeneous system 

“Reductionism, as a guiding principle, is tremendously helpful and useful. The problem with reductionism stems not from its use but from the wrongful assumption that it is the only solution”[17]

A Holistic Approach

Since ashwagandha is a multi-targeted, multi-dimensional medicine instead of the one drug, one receptor[18] typically seen in medicine.  A different strategy is needed to better understand Ashwagandha’s polypharmacology. This is where network pharmacology, a new field of science using a holistic methodological approach, comes into play. Network pharmacology involves aggregating large pools of data from the OMIM database to the public drug database. Scientists then create a map to better illustrate the network of biological modes of actions a medicine can have. Having an overview of interactions can be vital for drug designing and/or drug discovery, particularly for plant-derived medicine. 40% of all Western medicines[19] are plant-derived, and even the top 20 best selling prescription drugs in the US are plant-derived! 

Ashwagandha Shoden vs The Stomach

Let’s be honest, your stomach is a formidable opponent. With acid capable of melting some metals and three layers of buff muscles capable of churning and mincing food, ashwagandha’s delicate little phytochemicals won’t stand a chance. Your stomach is a powerhouse of chemical reactions breaking down complex molecules; this process is called acid hydrolysis and is responsible when it comes to breaking down and degrading Ashwagandha’s bioavailability. So how does one protect ashwagandha from this harsh acidic environment? By using a specialized patented method of enteric coating developed by Arjuna Natural and dubbed the Bioactive Ingredient Protection System (BIPS) [20].

Since 1884, enteric coatings have been used to protect medicines from being damaged or destroyed by gastrointestinal acids. Medicines with an enteric coating are mostly absorbed in the small intestines, but the enteric coating can also be changed to include a colon-specific drug delivery system (CDDS), which means the drug is only released once it reaches the large intestines.

When Was Shoden Released?

Ashwagandha Shoden came onto the scene in 2018 at the annual health ingredient (hi) conference in Europe, and since then it has set the leading industry standard (minimum 35% withanolides) for the highest bioavailable ashwagandha. Dr. Benny Antony, is the co- founder and joint managing director of Arjuna Natural Private Limited and the creator of ashwagandha Shoden.

Where To Buy Ashwagandha Shoden?

Ashwagandha is a trusted, non-toxic herbal supplement, but you can’t trust any vendor who sells it. In the world of supplements, unlike medicine, which is strictly regulated, supplements are not required to do so. So things like testing and making sure there are no adulterates or harmful metals are not needed, but honestly, who would want to buy from a company that doesn’t take the time to test. This is why I recommend buying your ashwagandha Shoden from Nootropics Depot. They are a long standing reputable vendor of supplements, working with leading manufacturers like Arjuna Natural to bring you extensively tested, high quality products.