On Nov 11, 6:11 am, High Miles <2Blue...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Warming to a Cold War Herb
> Soviet secret finds its way west
> Brian Vastag
>
> Zakir Ramazanov first encounteredRhodiolarosea in 1979 as a Soviet
> soldier
> in Afghanistan. A comrade often received boxes full of the
yellow-flowered
> mountain herb from his home in Siberia and would prepare and share a
> sweet-smelling tea from the root. Ramazanov found that the drink seemed
to
> quicken his hiking and speed his recovery after a taxing mission.
>
> HILLSIDE HABITAT.Rhodiolarosea (yellow flowers at left) grows
> in the
> Altai Mountains of Siberia. The plant thrives in cold climates at high
> altitudes. Brown
>
> After Ramazanov left the army, he forgot about the Siberian herb.
Despite
> having a good job, he felt depressed, and flashbacks from the war
> interfered
> with his daily tasks. After trying various drugs and natural remedies to
> ease his symptoms, he happened upon a lecture aboutrhodiola. He learned
> that the Soviets had been studying the herb since the 1940s, feeding it
to
> Olympic athletes and cosmonauts. Government scientists had noted
thatrhod=
iolaboosted the body's response to stress.
>
> If it was good enough for weight lifters and space travelers, it was
good
> enough for him, Ramazanov thought. He began takingrhodiolaextracts, and
> after a month his symptoms lifted. He had more energy during the day and
> could finally sleep at night. The horrific war images faded and his
> concentration improved.
>
> After the Soviet Union collapsed, Ramazanov moved to New York State,
began
> translating Russianrhodiolaresearch, and started a small business to
> im****t the herb. A few years later, Richard Brown, a psychiatrist at
> Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, heard
aboutrhodio=
la
> from two of his patients. They independently mentioned that the herb,
sold
> as a dietary supplement in the United States by a company affiliated
with
> Ramazanov, had eased their depression.
>
> Brown tracked down Ramazanov's company and wrote to him. The two began a
> correspondence that gave Brown enough confidence in the safety
ofrhodiola
> to try it himself. "Almost immediately, my mind seemed clearer," he
> says. "I
> was more energetic and less stressed. After a few days, I noticed I
> recovered from exercise more quickly."
>
> Brown recommended the herb to his wife, Patricia Gerbarg, also a
> psychiatrist, who was housebound from a debilitating bout with Lyme
> disease.
> After 10 days, Gerbarg re****ted feeling much better. Her memory
rebounded,
> and she had enough energy to again play chess with her son-and beat him,
a
> rare event. "I have my life back," she declared. Since then, Brown and
> Gerbarg have recommended the herb to hundreds of patients, often in
> conjunction with standard antidepressants.
>
> Much of the old Soviet research on the herb remains locked away in
Russian
> language journals. But over the past decade a growing body of new
research
> published in English tentatively sup****ts the results of early Soviet
> research. Laboratory and animal studies show that the herb may inhibit
> cancer cells, protect healthy cells from toxins, and correct enzyme
> imbalances associated with diabetes. In addition, four trials with human
> volunteers show thatrhodiolaextracts can boost mental performance,
reduce
> fatigue, and ease depression.
>
> Russian revolution
> Growing at high altitudes from Scandinavia to Siberia,rhodiolahas for
> centuries been a part of folk medicine among diverse native groups.
> Do***ented medicinal use reaches back at least to A.D. 77, when a
physici=
an
> to Roman legionnaires recommended it for headaches. In the 18th century,
> Linnaeus gave the herb its scientific name.
>
> Soviet-government scientists Nikolai Lazarev and Israel Brekhman knew of
> this traditional use when, after World War II, they launched an
extensive
> program to boost Soviet competitiveness in athletics and other demanding
> fields. The scientists tested nearly 200 herbal folk remedies and found
5,
> includingrhodiola, particularly intriguing. They called the plants
> adaptogens for their ability to foster increased resistance to stress
> and to
> boost physical and mental performance. Unlike amphetamines, which the
> postwar Soviets also tested, these plants weren't addictive, and users
> didn't "crash" or suffer a rebound period of profound fatigue.
>
> The adaptogens performed well on a pivotal test invented by the Soviets,
=
an
> endurance swim for rats. When plopped into water, a rat will swim
steadily
> for 10 to 15 minutes. Then it will float, paddling only as needed to
keep
> from drowning. When the Soviet scientists gave ratsrhodiola, the animals
> swam 35 percent to 59 percent longer. A modified version of the test is
> still used by academic researchers and drug companies to screen for
> potential new antidepressants.
>
> By 1969, Soviet scientists had amassed enough evidence for the Ministry
of
> Health to recommendrhodiolain its official list of medicines. Use of the
> herb took off.
>
> "The Soviets were really invested in it," says Georg Wikman of the
Swedish
> Herbal Institute in G=F6teborg, who studies the herb. "There must be 300
=
to
> 400 re****ts published in quite good Russian-language journals."
>
> Much of the Soviet research on the herb remains untranslated or locked
aw=
ay
> because authorities considered adaptogen research a "top military
secret,"
> Ramazanov maintained before his death last year. Nevertheless, he had
> translated some key findings by that time. In animals, the herb lowers
> production of the stress hormone cortisol. It acts as an antioxidant,
> helping to eliminate from the body the oxygen radicals that damage
cells.
> And in muscles, it increases production of adenosine triphosphate, the
> molecule that serves as cellular gasoline.
>
> Trials in people, while not up to Western standards, hinted thatrhodiola
> could alleviate depression, erectile dysfunction and premature
ejaculatio=
n,
> and chronic listlessness.
>
> Other, higher quality trials suggested that the herb could boost
athletic
> performance. A trial run by Victor Baranov at Moscow's Institute for
Space
> Medicine in the 1990s found that after takingrhodiola, inactive adults
> performed just as well as trained athletes in aerobic tests. During that
> experiment, researchers randomly assigned volunteers to take either the
> herb
> or a placebo, and participants, as well as their testers, were blind to
> which was which. Around the same time, another such randomized,
> double-blind
> study of 42 male biathletes re****ted improved target shooting in the
group
> that took the herb. Also, the extract seemed to speed recovery of the
> athletes' circulatory systems. Thirty minutes after the skiing part of
the
> biathlon, the hearts of those who took the extract were beating at 105
> percent of prerace rates, compared with 129 percent of precompetition
rat=
es
> among athletes who took a placebo.
>
> In the late 1980s, researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences in
> Moscow,
> home to much of the adaptogen work, discovered that three compounds
found
> only in the rosea type ofRhodiola-there are at least 200 related
> species-were responsible for much of the plant's activity. They dubbed
> these
> compounds rosavins, and in 1989 the Soviet government declared that
allrh=
odiolaextracts must contain at least 3 percent rosavins. Dietary
> supplement makers throughout the world still hew to this standard.
>
> Even before the discovery of rosavins, Soviet adaptogen research
culminat=
ed
> with ADAPT, a mixture of extracts from R. rosea, a species of ginseng,
> and a
> berry called Schizandra chinensis. Hoping for a synergistic effect, the
> Soviets gave ADAPT to Olympic athletes, according to Ramazanov's
> self-published material.
>
> The Soviets then decided to test ADAPT in their space program, a plan
that
> enlisted Wikman and the Swedish Herbal Institute. Wikman and the Soviet
> scientists gave ADAPT to 60 sleep-deprived cosmonaut trainees. "Those
tes=
ts
> went well," says Wikman. The mixture "had a very clear effect on
> mental-work
> capacity, problem solving, and short-term memory when the subjects were
> really, really tired after staying up for days." The mixture also helped
> normalize an elaborate measure of cardiac function in the sleep-deprived
> trainees. "So the decision was made to take it up, use it in space,"
Wikm=
an
> says.
>
> Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, a physician, took ADAPT daily while commander
=
of
> the Mir space station during his 14-month mission in 1994 and 1995, says
> Wikman. Wikman adds that Polyakov credited ADAPT with helping him endure
> the
> record-length spaceflight.
>
> To the west
> About the same time Polyakov was taking herbs in space, Ramazanov was
> setting up shop just outside New York City. Working with a
> dietary-supplement maker, Ramazanov invested in a small laboratory and
> began
> im****tingrhodiola. He talked up its benefits whenever he got the chance.
>
> HEALTHFUL HANDFUL. Psychiatrist Richard Brown holds a bunch
ofRhod=
iolarosea during a 2003 expedition to Siberia. Brown recommends root
> extracts of the plant for treating depression and other ailments.
> Brown
>
> The message spread, and in 2003, Mark Blumenthal, executive director of
t=
he
> American Botanical Council, a trade group based in Austin, Texas,
trumpet=
edrhodiolaas "the next herbal superstar" in an already lucrative market.
> Despite Blumenthal's proclamation,rhodiolahasn't cracked the top 20
herbs
> in sales at food and drugstores even though it's widely available.
>
> But Ramazanov's work has drummed up academic interest. Since the turn of
> the
> century, a growing number of re****ts investigatingrhodiolahave
> appeared in
> English-language journals. Several groups of researchers have found
> that, in
> the laboratory,rhodiolainhibits the spread of bacteria, prevents immune
> system damage caused by anticancer drugs, slows the division of cancer
> cells, and corrects enzyme irregularities in diabetic mice.
>
> Meanwhile, Wikman and the Swedish Herbal Institute, which makes
arhodiola
> extract called SHR-5, have continued laboratory and human tests. In
2000,
> they re****ted that SHR-5 protects snail embryos from heat, copper, and
> oxidative stress. When given the herb extract, fewer of the embryos died
> after exposure to these stressors than did embryos not given the
extract.
>
> Also in 2000, Wikman and his colleagues in Russia published results from
a
> randomized, double-blind trial of university students who took SHR-5 at
t=
he
> end of a semester. Students taking the herb for 20 days fared better on
> measures of fatigue and mental performance than did students who took a
> placebo. Another study published in 2000 found an antifatigue effect of
t=
he
> herb among 56 physicians working night ****fts.
>
> In 2003, the Swedish-Russian group published a study of 100 male
military
> cadets who took a single dose of SHR-5. After working all night, 40
cadets
> received a low dose of the extract, 40 a high dose, and 20 a placebo.
The
> cadets taking either dose of the extract scored higher on a battery of
> concentration and mental-performance tests than did cadets taking the
> placebo.
>
> Most recently, in the September-October Nordic Journal of Psychiatry,
> Wikman
> and coworkers in Armenia re****t a randomized, double-blind trial in
people
> with mild-to-moderate depression. For 6 weeks, two groups of 30 patients
> took either of two doses of SHR-5 while a third group took a placebo.
> People
> taking either dose of the extract re****ted fewer symptoms on standard
> depression questionnaires at the end of the study than did those who
took
> the placebo.
>
> "I've been using it as an antidepressant for years now," says Columbia
> University's Brown. "But it's nice to have that validated in a clinical
> trial."
>
> Incomplete picture
> Despite the increased academic interest inrhodiola, Wikman's team, which
> has a vested interest in its SHR-5 product, remains the only group
> sponsoring clinical trials. And getting a handle on exactly whatrhodiola
> does inside the body is daunting. "Scientists have yet to advance a
single
> theory that accounts for the diverse benefits of adaptogens," says
Brown.
>
> Whereas prescription drugs typically contain a single compound that
> works in
> a specific way, herbs contain many active compounds that act on the body
> via
> different, often subtle, mechanisms. Scientists have identified at least
a
> dozen active components inrhodiola, including the rosavins and known
> antioxidants. Many more may remain unidentified, says Brown.
>
> Dietary supplement companies in the United States have little incentive
to
> invest in research, as the Food and Drug Administration doesn't require
> clinical trials for dietary supplements. Standards for marketing herbal
> products in Canada and Europe are more stringent. The National Center
for
> Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes
of
> Health in Bethesda, Md., hasn't funded anyrhodiolaresearch.
>
> "I think it's a valuable medicine, and I'd love to see more research,"
sa=
ys
> Brown, who recommends various brands to his patients and who doesn't
have=
a
> financial interest in anyrhodiolaproduct. "But I don't see much clinical
> research ever happening in the United States. Drug companies just aren't
> interested, and the [supplement] companies can't afford it."
>
>
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-- -----
>
> Canada's Long-Term Commitment
>
> Market potential lures investment
> Across the plains of Alberta, plots ofrhodiolaawait harvesting. In 2004,
> the Canadian provincial government launched a program to commercialize
the
> plant. Fifty growers received seedlings, and some 50 acres are now being
> grown.
>
> It takes 3 to 5 years for the roots to develop sufficient concentrations
=
of
> active ingredients for harvesting, making the project a long-term
> commitment, says ****rzad Chunara, marketing manager at Alberta
Agriculture
> and Food in Edmonton. The province has pledged $750,000 for the project
> through 2010. "We chose it because ... the market for it looks
promising,"
> says Chunara.
>
> The plant is ideally adapted to Alberta's harsh winters. The province
> earlier tried to commercialize Echinacea, but more than half the plants
> suc***bed to the cold. More than 90 percent ofrhodiolaplants survived
> their first three winters, a testament to the species' near-Arctic
origin=
s=2E
>
> After processing the roots, University of Alberta scientists will
conduct=
a
> small trial in human volunteers, says Chunara. The Canadian government's
> herbal medicine agency requires such tests before it will certify any
> products containing the herb.
>
> Bertalam Galambosi, a Finnish-government agronomist who's spent 15 years
> working small test plots ofrhodiola, says that projects such as
Alberta's
> are crucial to the long-term viability of the plant. Some 20 to 30 tons
of
> dry root are ex****ted from Russia each year, he says, and the country
> recently restricted harvesting. Galambosi is trying to improve growing,
> harvesting, and processing techniques.
>
> "It's very young as a domesticated plant, and there are lots of open
> questions, such as how to shorten this 5-year cycle and how to mechanize
> harvesting. But over the long term, with demand continuing to climb,
> cultivation will be the only source."
Most of the modern work on Rhodiola was done with SHR--5 Rhodiola, a
distinct extract and one that isn't duplicated by other companies
(SHR-5 is Swedish Herbal Institute brand, available in the USA from
www.proactivebio.com). I've taken all the major brands of this herb,
tableted and capsuled, and of various strengths, and none of them work
like SHR-5, the ingredient of Arctic Root=AE brand by the swedes.
Dave
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