Astral Codex Ten

Ashwagandha

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Ashwagandha

Article

Ashwagandha is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between October 05, 2022 and October 26, 2022. The archive places it in contexts such as “Bacopa and ashwagandha are Ayurvedic (Indian traditional medicine) herbs used for stress”; “ashwagandha or silexan for anxiety”; “My guess is that taking Ayurvedic supplements that have been processed and Westernized and are produced by Western companies (eg ashwagandha) is fine”. It most often appears alongside Ayurvedic, Bacopa, Chicago.

Metadata

  • Category: Concepts
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: October 05, 2022
  • Last seen: October 26, 2022

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

How Trustworthy Are Supplements?
October 05, 2022 · Original source
Hard Mode: Bacopa and Ashwagandha
Bacopa and ashwagandha are Ayurvedic (Indian traditional medicine) herbs used for stress. I’m listing them as hard mode because turning it into a supplement usually involves extracting active chemicals (called withanolides) from the plant. If there were problems with herbal medicines, this would be where we would expect to find them. Labdoor has bacopa but not ashwagandha, and ConsumerLab has vice versa, so I’m combining them for this investigation.
ConsumerLab investigates fifteen brands of ashwagandha. They approved 11, were “uncertain” about 3, and rejected 1. One “uncertain” company was uncertain because they claimed to be extracting different chemicals than the ones ConsumerLab was set up to detect - but it was a reputable brand and I give them the benefit of the doubt here; two others had accurate labels but may or may not have been underdosing. The reject was Himalaya Ashwagandha, which claimed to have 3 mg of the active ingredient, but really had 3.3 mg. This would normally qualify as okay, but ConsumerLab says that based on the extraction process they used they should have had 4.4, and they are confused why this didn’t happen. I have trouble holding this against Himalaya given that their label is basically correct. Himalaya also gets dinged because apparently a reasonable dose of this product would be 6 mg, which they do not reach.
Inline links: investigates fifteen brands of ashwagandha
Highlights From The Comments On Supplement Labeling
October 26, 2022 · Original source
The supplements I find more interesting are things like melatonin for sleep, ashwagandha or silexan for anxiety, SAMe for depression, or caffeine + theanine for focus. All of these are useful, supported by studies, and good alternatives to medications that some people don’t tolerate well. I’m using mental health examples because that’s the subject I know about, but there are probably examples in other fields too (probiotics for digestive problems).
Inline links: silexan
So my guess is that taking reputable North American supplements gives you about the same heavy metal risk as spices or juices, and taking Chinese or Ayurvedic supplements can potentially have a much higher risk if you’re not careful. My guess is that taking Ayurvedic supplements that have been processed and Westernized and are produced by Western companies (eg ashwagandha) is fine, but I can’t prove it.