The Evidence / Ashwagandha: what the trials actually found
The Evidence
Ashwagandha: what the trials actually found
Key takeaways
Quick answer
- Meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials find ashwagandha lowers measured stress and anxiety against placebo, with serum cortisol moving in the same direction as the questionnaire scores.
- The effect clustered at 300 to 600 mg a day of a standardised extract over eight weeks or more. Nothing in this category works on the first morning.
- The caveats are real: most trials were short, they ran on specific standardised extracts, and a fair share were industry funded.
- EGGPLANT ENERGY uses a 30:1 ashwagandha root extract at 100 mg, printed on the panel alongside every other amount.
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Not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Ashwagandha is the most heavily researched plant in our formula, and it is one of the few botanicals in the supplement aisle where the research has moved past "promising" into something you can actually read. That is worth a proper look, because most of what gets written about it online cites nothing at all.
What it is
Withania somnifera is a small shrub from India and North Africa, used in Ayurvedic practice for centuries. The root is the part that matters. In Sanskrit its name refers to the smell of a horse, which tells you something about the raw material and quite a lot about why nobody takes it as a tea any more.
It is classed as an adaptogen: a plant taken daily to help the body handle ordinary physical and mental load. That is a category description, not a promise, and the interesting question is always what the trials found.
What the research shows
The strongest body of evidence concerns stress and anxiety. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that ashwagandha supplementation significantly reduced measured anxiety and stress compared with placebo, across trials using doses of roughly 125 to 600 mg per day for 30 to 90 days.
A separate meta-analysis published in BJPsych Open looked at cortisol alongside the questionnaire scores, and found effects on the Perceived Stress Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and serum cortisol. That combination matters: a subjective scale on its own is easy to move, a hormone measurement is not.
There is also a meta-analysis on sleep, which found a small but measurable improvement in sleep quality, with clearer effects in people who had trouble sleeping to begin with and in trials that ran eight weeks or longer.
A more recent dose-response analysis is the most practically useful of the lot. It found the effect on stress clustered around 300 to 600 mg per day, and that longer courses did better than short ones. In other words: this is not a plant that does anything on a Tuesday. It is one you take for two months.
Where the evidence is thinner
Three honest caveats, because they change how you should read the numbers.
Most trials ran on specific standardised extracts, usually branded ones, at specific doses. Findings from one extract do not automatically transfer to another, which is why the form and the dose on a label are worth reading rather than skimming.
Most trials were short, eight to twelve weeks. Long-term safety data is thin, not because anything alarming turned up, but because the studies have not been run.
And a good number were funded by ingredient suppliers. That does not make them wrong, and the meta-analyses account for quality, but it is the sort of thing a brand should tell you rather than leave you to discover.
Who should be careful
Ashwagandha has been well tolerated in trials, with mild and infrequent side effects. Even so: not during pregnancy or breastfeeding, not under 18, and talk to your doctor first if you take thyroid medication, sedatives, or immunosuppressants, or if you have a thyroid condition. There have been isolated reports of liver injury associated with ashwagandha products, so if you are being treated for anything ongoing, mention it.
What is in EGGPLANT ENERGY
One capsule a day contains Ashwagandha Root Extract 30:1, 100 mg, alongside shilajit, sea moss and tongkat ali. A 30:1 extract means 30 grams of root were processed down to one gram of finished extract, so the milligrams on our label are concentrated material rather than milled powder.
We print the ratio and the amount because that is the only way you can compare what you are buying against what the research actually used. A label that says "ashwagandha 500 mg" and nothing else has told you almost nothing.
Sources
- Akhgarjand C. et al. Does ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Phytotherapy Research.
- Effects of ashwagandha supplements on cortisol, stress and anxiety levels in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BJPsych Open.
- Cheah K.L. et al. Effect of Withania somnifera extract on sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE.
- Effects of ashwagandha on mental health in adults: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine.
This article is general information, not medical advice. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.