Can Ashwagandha help increase muscular size and strength? by Jerry Brainum

 

 

Can an herb whose name roughly translates into "smell of horse" help you add muscular size and strength? The herb in question, ashwagandha, has been revered in Ayurvedic medicine, or the folk medicine of India, for centuries. The botanical name for ashwagandha is Withania somnifera, and similarly to other herbs, it's thought to act as an adaptogen or an herb that helps to protect the body against various stress reactions. In relation to ashwagandha, these effects include antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor or cancer, anti-stress, and other effects. From the standpoint of exercise, ashwagandha appears to boost stamina and strength, as shown by a few published studies. The herb is thought to boost testosterone while lowering levels of cortisol, the primary catabolic hormone in the body. If it actually did this alone, it would be a very useful supplement for anyone engaged in exercise or sports of any kind. Ashwagandha also appears to modulate anxiety and relax you. In the brain, it interacts with receptors for the neurotransmitter, GABA. The significance of this is that GABA is the primary inhibitory brain neurotransmitter, and as such any interaction with GABA receptors in the brain would exert a calming influence and reduce anxiety while promoting sleep onset. That would provide major beneficial effects against stress. 

In the April 2015 issue of Applied Metabolics, I included ashwagandha in my survey of herbs touted to boost testosterone levels. When I reviewed the available medical literature about the relationship between ashwagandha and testosterone, I found a few human studies that featured infertile men provided large doses of the herb. One study of such men showed that not only did ashwagandha boost several indices of fertility in the men, but it also raised the testosterone levels of the men an average of 17 percent.   Another study found that providing a large dose of ashwagandha to human men boosted testosterone levels by 40 percent. If this was proven to be true in other studies, it would appear that ashwagandha could help older men with lower testosterone levels add some muscle mass. One of the more fascinating recent studies didn't involve humans but instead involved mice. That study showed that providing the rodents with ashwagandha prevented the onset of Alzheimer's disease. If this study is replicated in humans, the effect would be nothing short of revolutionary, since the incidence of Alzheimer's disease is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years

Although Ashwagandha is not as well known as other herbs, such as ginseng, its potential health effects are easily comparable. Small wonder why it's often referred to as "Indian ginseng." Out of control systemic inflammation tends to rise with age and is associated with every known degenerative disease, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. One indicator of systemic inflammation is a blood test for