Articles - raving about rhodiola

Raving about Rhodiola
(Rhodiola rosea)
Rhodiola wasn’t an herb I was taught in herbal college, thus it is a fairly new addition to my dispensary cupboard. Yet, the more I learned about this herb, the more I had to have it! Its potential for my clients is too great not to! Rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea), also known as Stonecrop, Roseroot or Golden Root, among other names, is a member of the family Crassulaceae. This succulent plant is native to various cold climates around the world, including the Alps. This plant may, in fact, prove to be a valuable ”, and where we apparently have an ideal climate for growing it.
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It is best known for its adaptogenic qualities. An adaptogen is something that improves the body’s ability to adapt to stressors. Adaptogens promote wellbeing, homeostasis, and gen- T 780 953-3219
It’s helpful in preventing fatigue and promoting endurance both physical and mental.athletes experienced a noticeable difference, with reduced lactate levels and reduced dam-age to skeletal muscle from exhaustive exercise .educing fatigue it increases concentration, learning, and memory, and is beneficial to people with chronic fatigue syn-drome. Students may also find this herb helpful because of its ability to improve mental performance.oved sleep patterns, greater mood stability, greater motivation to study, improved problem solving, and improved exam scores. Even physicians, in one study, experienced significant improvement of fatigue and mental perform-ance during the first two weeks on night duty.
Many of the studies, especially older ones, were done in Russia. It does make me wonder if that’s one of the reasons why they always used to do so well in the Olympics.
Addiction TreatmentSome animal studies are revealing that it may be very useful in treating addiction to opiates and nicotine Anti-oxidant.
Rhodiola is also an anti-inflammatory-drogen peroxide-tion known as Vitilego.
Anti-microbialAs an anti-microbial, it’s actions in the laboratory and in micethe Coxsackie virus, which causes viral myocarditis, an infection that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. It has also demonstrated activity against H1N1 and H9N2 influenza virusWith school starting and cold and flu season coming, this may be another herb worth adding to the household herbal arsenal.
Most people these days are struggling to deal with stress, and here is where the herb is also shining in lab studies. It is thought that its anti-oxidant activity may be the biggest contributor to this effect.-man) studies to reduce fatigueease enduranceweight, and reduce stress, small study, it was helpful for generalized anxiety disorder.
Cancer treatmentIt’s actions in cancer studies are also promising, showing an ability to protect non-cancerous cells while causing cancerous ones to dieeast cancer cells ostate cancer cells.otect cells continued even when used with conventional cancer therapy, where it protected (in this case) myeloid cells while retaining or enhancing the effect of the conventional drug on the cancerous cells.In a study using mice, it inhibited tumours including inhibiting the development and spread of Mailing:
lymphosarcomoa Some of these studies also demonstrated that not only does the herb aid conventional treatment, but that it protected the body from the damage that can so often be done by conventional cancer drugs, including liver toxicity, and provided a greater level of T 780 953-3219
As if that wasn’t enough, this plant had still more to offer, with benefits in diabetes, high cholesterol, and depr , including that it was as effective as the drug fluoxetine.
Cell protectionWhat caught my attention most while sifting through the medical journals about this herb is its ability to protect cells from damage. Not only did it have protective qualities during cancer treatment, it protected against H2O2 caused cell deathevented hypoxia (a condition where parts of the body are deprived of oxygen)omoted skin healtheduced arrhyth-, protected against muscle damage during exerciseotected circulation in the brain, and even increased the efficiency of DNA re-pair and protected against mutation.otect nerve tissueas such may have a role to play in Alzheimer’s , Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative and cerebral diseases LifespanBut wait, there’s more. Two studies that were done on animals (fruit flies and nematodes) demonstrated that R. rosea incr e more affective at this than larger ones.
SynergyThis is another herb where the synergistic effects of its many phytochemicals (plant chemi-cals) is greater than each of its phytochemicals alone In my use of this plant so far, I have found it to be an uplifting herb that promotes a feeling of more energy and alertness, but without interfering with sleep. I have even included it in a formula for my dog, which the vet thinks has an auto-immune condition known as Pem-phigus. For my clients, I try to keep some on hand at all times in the dispensary.
In a day and age when there is so much advertising of the latest “miracle” herb it’s odd that we haven’t heard more about this amazing herb.
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