Adaptogens are certain plants and mushrooms that are thought to help the body adapt to stress. Today, these plants and mushrooms can be found in the form of nutritional supplements, drinks or as tinctures.
Adaptogens are widely recommended and are thought to have a variety of health benefits, from reducing stress to balancing hormones, improving alertness, and boosting the immune system. Like many nutritional supplements, however, there is limited scientific evidence to support these substances.
Adaptogens are defined as substances that increase the “state of nonspecific resistance” under stress, a physiological state that is associated with various disorders of the neuroendocrine-immune system. Studies have shown that adaptogens exhibit neuroprotective, antidepressant, anxiolytic (sedative), nootropic (enhance brain function), and central nervous system (CNS) stimulant activity.
In addition, a number of clinical studies have shown that adaptogens have an effect that increases mental performance against the background of stress and fatigue, especially in mental exhaustion with increased attention. Pharmacological studies on a number of adaptogens have provided a rationale for these effects at the molecular level as well, finding that the stress-protective activity of adaptogens is linked to the regulation of homeostasis through several mechanisms of action related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the regulation of key mediators of the stress response.
The idea that a pill could improve the mental and physical performance of healthy people was conceived during World War II and was tested with the use of various stimulants given to pilots and submarine crewmen. For example, the first studies on the stimulating and tonic effects of Schisandra chinensis (Chinese lemongrass) were published in World War II Soviet military journals.
During the 1950-60s, the idea of using herbal medicinal plants to increase endurance and survival in harmful environments was developed and a new concept of “adaptogens” was introduced to describe compounds that could increase the “state of non-specific resistance” under stress. This concept is based on Hans Selye’s theory of stress and the general adaptation syndrome, which have three phases: the anxiety phase, the resistance phase, and the exhaustion phase.
Today, research on adaptogens covers the following four areas: phytochemistry (isolation and elucidation of the structure of the active ingredients of adaptogenic plants); biochemistry and molecular biology (mechanisms of stress-protective activity of adaptogens at the molecular and cellular level); experimental and clinical pharmacology (efficacy and safety of adaptogens in stress-related disorders in animals and humans); pharmaceutical development of herbal preparations/products that have well-established uses in evidence-based medicine.
Some of the most interesting developments are studies that clearly show that certain adaptogenic substances can activate the defense mechanisms of cells, which is associated with an increase in their survival rate. These studies have so far focused on the regulation of molecular chaperones (heat shock proteins) such as Hsp70 and other key stress mediators.
The term adaptogen is often applied to plants even when the criteria for an adaptogen are not met, such as the important and significant general adaptive effect on stress involving the whole organism and its major organs and functions.