In Part 1, I talked a little about what adaptogens are and how they were first studied by Russian scientists. Now I'd like to go into a little detail about some of the results of those studies.
During a period of more than 45 years, 1200 Russian scientists conducted over 3000 tests with adaptogens on over 500,000 subjects. These are some of the results they got:
- 66% drop in influenza cases during an epidemic in miners working in Siberia
- 30% drop in influenza cases during an epidemic in over-the-road truckers
- Increased resistance to effects of cold and increased endurance in skiers
- 30% drop in general sickness, 40% drop in lost work days, 40% drop in high blood pressure and heart disease in factory workers
- Improved work and normalization of body function in hot conditions in sailors who were at sea for long periods of time
- Improved stamina, recovery, oxygen intake, and performance of Olympic athletes
- Improved mental clarity, focus and memory of champion chess players
And so on. They also found:
- 50% less damage to immune system and 50% lowering of dosage in patients with gastric cancer receiving anti-cancer drugs
- Fewer chest pains, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and improved ECG readings in heart disease patients after 7 months
- Normalization of blood pressure in hypo- and hypertension patients
- Lowering of serum glucose levels in some patients with diabetes
A number of studies showed that when adaptogens were taken on a regular basis, the subjects experienced better eyesight and hearing, increased focus and memory, and were able to do more physical labor. For those of you who can remember back that far, during the 1970's and 80's the Russian Olympic teams dominated the major events. So much so that other countries had accused the Russians of using anabolic steroids and blood doping. The International Olympic Committee investigated and found that not only weren't the Russians using steroids or doping, but that the Russian's training facilities were the worst they'd seen. The coaches were asked how they were able to produce so many Olympic medalists, and the coaches replied that they had highly motivated and focused athletes, and a secret weapon. That secret weapon was adaptogens. It allowed the Russians to train harder, longer, and with more intensity than anyone else. It helped them recover from workouts so they could train more frequently. It improved their coordination, strength and endurance. And because the West hadn't heard of it, it
was a secret weapon. The Russians also gave it to their chess players, Bolshoi Ballet, military, cosmonauts, anyone that represented Russia to the world. There is a story of a man in Texas who has a friend who was an Olympic rower from Russia years ago. This man gave his friend an adaptogenic liquid supplement, and the friend immediately recognized the flavor as something he was given as part of his training regimen back in Russia. One of the benefits of glasnost and perestroika has been the exchange of knowledge between Russia and the West. Now the information from that 45 years of research has been spread around, and adaptogens are becoming more mainstream, which is lucky for those of us who don’t wish to take pharmaceuticals to balance our bodies' systems.
