Ashwagandha in the News

The Ayurvedic medicine Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) has made recent news after trials performed at the National Brain Research Centre (NRBC) of India demonstrated ashwagandha’s potential to clean out protein deposits or amyloid plaques from vessels of the brain within 30 days. Researchers were so astonished by the results that they had a second lab in Canada repeat the trials and they experienced similar results.

The suspected mechanism of action occurs by stimulating production of special protein in the liver that once in the main bloodstream assists in the removal of damaging plaques from the brain into the blood stream Where the plaques are then excreted from the body. The results/findings appeared January 30, 2012 in the reputable US journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”. While the initial studies were on mice, this is an important discovery in the realm of circulatory and brain health as many diseases that affect neural behavior have no present cure. Researchers state that human trials will soon be under way.

To your Health,

Dave Rigby Nutritionist, MS, PAC, Member of the American Society for Nutrition
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jan 30. Withania somnifera reverses Alzheimer's disease pathology by enhancing low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein in liver. Sehgal N, Gupta A, Valli RK, Joshi SD, Mills JT, Hamel E, Khanna P, Jain SC, Thakur SS, Ravindranath V. Division of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, National Brain Research Centre, Nainwal Mode, Manesar, Haryana 122050, India.