1. Withania somnifera
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Withania somnifera Dunal is a popular Indian plant, commonly known as Ashwagandha
or Indian Ginseng. Ashwagandha is widely used in Ayurveda and has long been known
for its health benefits. In Ayurvedic medicine there is a class of herbs, including Withania
somnifera, known as adaptogens or vitalizers. Adaptogens cause adaptive reactions to
disease, are useful in many unrelated illnesses, and appear to produce a state of
nonspecific increased resistance to adverse effects of physical, chemical, and biological
agents. They are relatively innocuous, have no known specific mechanism of action,
normalize pathological effects, and are usually glycosides or alkaloids of a plant.
Biological actions of Withania somnifera
Withania somnifera has been experimentally proven to be a good adaptogen in a variety
of stress related models. These include forced swimming test, stress induced gastric ulcer,
anabolic activity, learning acquisition etc. Corticosteroid sparing effect has been
proposed as one of the mechanisms of adaptogenic activity of Withania somnifera. In
addition several studies have confirmed its antioxidant and immunomodulatory
properties. These studies have provided a scientific basis for use of Withania somnifera
as a āRasayanaā in Ayurveda.
The chemistry of Withania somnifera has been extensively studied and over 35 chemical
constituents have been identified, extracted, and isolated. The biologically active
chemical constituents are alkaloids (isopelletierine, anaferine), steroidal lactones
(withanolides, withaferins), saponins containing an additional acyl group (sitoindoside
VII and VIII), and withanolides with a glucose at carbon 27 (sitoindoside IX and X).
Withania somnifera is also rich in iron.
Safety: The available human studies on ashwagandha do not indicate any significant
adverse effects. Both acute and chronic administration of ashwagandha has found no
toxic effects in animal studies. In addition, a strong traditional support from the Ayurveda
is available to substantiate the safety of ashwagandha.
Natural Remedies Pvt. Ltd. is a leading supplier of standardized herbal extracts and
bulk herbal extracts from India. Withania somnifera extract from Natural Remedies Pvt.
Ltd. ensures consistent chemical profile with known amounts of both free withanolides
and their glycosides in the extract by HPLC based quality control. The extract of
Withania somnifera is recommended to be a good ingredient for the nutritional/health
supplements useful as adaptogen and immunomodulator.
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