Does Rhodiola Rosea Really Work?
Rhodiola Rosea really works to reduce fatigue? It is safe to say that, what with the fourteen scientific studies we list below, it does. Not only this, the effect is strong. It is regardless whether when we give a LOW dose over a prolonged period of time, or when we give an instant HIGH dose.
There were of course other studies which have conversely found an increase in fatigue in subjects taking this Golden Root 红景天. Also, together with these, there was another study which suggested that it depended on method of measuring fatigue.
Nevertheless, overall, the results are generally positive, that is, Rhodiola Rosea really works to decrease fatigue especially when it is related to work stress. 工作压力
Rhodiola Rosea is also known as Roseroot and Golden Root. We can find it naturally occurred in wild Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, especially Siberia and North America. It covers over the wild landscape of the regions.
Herbalists consider this herb as an adaptogenic. The herb has mainly five health claims. Nevertheless, over here we are to narrow down to just looking at its effects on fatigue and on whether it really works
Please do not confuse Rhodiola Rosea with Rhodiola Crenulata. This valiant is found to be less effective for improving physical working capacity although both of them bear the same name in Chinese, “红景天”。
List of Fourteen Research Studies As Reference:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11081987/
Notes for this study:
In otherwise healthy physicians, supplementation of rhodiola at 170mg (4.5mg salidroside) for 2 weeks (double blind crossover) was significantly antifatigue. We assessed the effect using a total fatigue index. With this tool, we could observe that subjects were able to improve performance on work-related tasks by approximately 20%
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19170145
Notes for this study:
144mg rhodiola (SHR-5) with 2.3% salidroside was able to reduce fatigue in a group of persons after 1 week of supplementation. These person were healthy if without their fatigue.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108416
Notes for this study:
In this study, researchers gave nursing students a capsule containing 364mg rhodiola rosea (2.8% total rosavins) upon waking. And then they gave an optional half dose (184mg) four hours later daily. They continued doing so for 42 days. They noted that supplementation was associated with a worsening of fatigue scores as assessed by RAND-36 and VAS-F on day 42. MYMOP saw no changes in measurement. They tolerated the supplementation well. This negative effect manifested on day 42, with all other weekly measurements showed no significant differences between groups.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22228617
Notes for this study:
Researchers gave 200mg of rhodiola extract (300-1000mg root equivalent) twice daily for 4 weeks to persons with life and work-related stress. They were able to see reduction in dysfunction and fatigue associated with stress in a time-dependent manner. Researchers also noted significant improvements in social and work function secondary to reduced fatigue and improved mood.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21036578
Notes for this study:
Analyzed eleven studies on performance: four on mental and six on physical.
R. rosea may have beneficial effects on physical performance, mental performance, and certain mental health conditions. There is, however, a lack of independent replications of the single different studies. Five of the ten Randomized Controlled Trials reached more than three points on the Jadad score (i.e., decent quality). More research seems warranted.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15256690
Notes for this study:
Acute Rhodiola rosea intake can improve endurance exercise capacity in young healthy volunteers. A prior four-week Rhodiola intake did not altered this response.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10839209
Notes for this study:
20 days of rhodiola supplementation during examination periods for students (100mg SHR-5) was able to improve nerve and muscle fitness (accuracy of maze drawing test), fatigue, and wellbeing relative to placebo. Exam scores were 8.4% higher in the rhodiola group relative to placebo.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12725561
Notes for this study:
In military cadets performing regular military night duties, 5 days of supplementation of rhodiola (370 or 555mg of SHR-5) was able to significantly reduce total fatigue. It improved their wellbeing, too. During this trial, researchers did measurements 2 hours after supplement ingestion and again at the end. The ability to do more mental work significantly increased relative to placebo.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24503750
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, researchers allocated sixty participants to take 576 mg of SHR-5 Rhodiola Rosea extract or placebo daily for 28 days. To be specific, these sixty persons had fatigues caused by stress. The supplement group saw a notably greater reduction in fatigue than the placebo group. There were also improvements in depression rating, attention, stress, and several measures of cognitive performance. In addition, there was a greater reduction in cortisol in the intervention group.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26502953
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, unblinded trial, 80 participants with mild anxiety were allocated to take 200 mg of Rhodiola Rosea twice per day, or no treatment for 14 days.
The primary outcomes were anxiety as measured by STAI and stress as measured by the perceived stress scale, and there was a small, statistically significant greater reduction in both compared with the placebo group. Additionally, there was a statistically significantly greater reduction for Rhodiola for anger, confusion, and total negative mood. However, there was no statistically significant difference for sleep quality, sleepiness, vigor, tension, fatigue, and depression.
The mean time taken for these eighty subject to react upon stimuli was significant shortened too.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25268730
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, forty-eight nursing students were allocated to take placebo or 364 mg of Rodiola Rosea twice daily for 42 days.
The primary outcome was a reduction in fatigue. In addition, there was a statistically significantly greater reduction in the Rhodiola group than the placebo group in the vitality subscale of RAND-36. However, when on a visual analog scale, researchers saw less reduction.
There were no statistically significant differences in the change between groups on the RAND-36 scale for physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health, pain, and social functioning, while the Rhodiola group reported worse general health, emotional wellbeing, and role limitation due to emotional problems, the first being statistically significant and the latter being p=0.052 and 0.051.
There were no notable differences in adverse events between groups.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23443221
Notes for this study:
In a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial, they recruited eighteen recreationally active participants. They either took 3 mg/kg of Rhodiola Rosea or placebo one hour prior to endurance testing on a bicycle ergometer.
When taking Rhodiola, participants took less time to complete the trial. This was clearly seen in comparison with placebo. Power output was non significantly higher. And heart rate was not different, too. Lactate and salivary cortisol were not different. However, salivary enzyme-for-digestion level was higher when taking Rhodiola. When taking Rhodiola, researchers noted less fatigue and confusion. However, they did not see much difference in anger, vigor, depression, tension, and performance on the Stroop test in comparison with placebo. In addition, when taking Rhodiola, less test subjects felt exertions in doing tasks .
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28367055
Notes for this study:
In a single-arm, open-label trial, researchers gave 118 participants experiencing burnout 400 mg of Rhodiola extract (1.5–5:1, 60% dry ethanolic extract) daily for 12 weeks.
- Fifty-eight percent completes the trial. Maslach Burnout Inventory saw a statistically significant improvement in depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, but not involvement or personal accomplishment. On the perceived stress questionnaire, there was a statistically significant reduction in total score, fatigue, harassment, irritability, lack of joy, overload, tension, and worries. The total score on the Burnout Screening Scale saw significant reduction after one week. And this reduction continued to improve at 8 and 12 weeks. Researchers saw Impairment of sex life and sexual function significantly improved. It was true too with alertness, calmness, and mood.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28219059
Notes for this study:
In an open-label, single-arm trial, researchers gave 101 participants with long-term fatigue symptoms 400 mg of a 60% ethanolic Rhodiola extract (drug/extract ratio 1.5-5:1) 8 weeks.
Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory saw fatigue notably reduced after one week. It continued to decline at 4 and 8 weeks. The same goes for the numerical analog scale results for chronic fatigue symptoms. There were global improvements on the Sheehan Disability Scale, and the Recent Perceived Stress Questionnaire. Rhodiola Rosea really works.
All the above studies which on the whole agree that Rhodiola Rosea really works in reducing fatigue, is a collection from https://examine.com/supplements/rhodiola-rosea/#hem-fatigue
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