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The Anti-Stress Herb That Also Fights Cancer
Plus: how to get the most out of your brain-changes with age
The 10almonds Team
August 14, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
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Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Rhodiola rosea has enjoyed traditional use as a herbal supplement for centuries, mostly against:
Anxiety
Fatigue
Depression
However, modern science has found it not only works for those things, but also…
Fights cancer
May help manage diabetes
See today’s main feature for the science on these things!
COVID is back on the rise, with new cases up 80% lately as a new subvariant spreads. Be careful, be up-to-date on vaccinations if possible, and enjoy plenty of fresh air.
Another reason to take extra care to avoid even “mild” cases of COVID: studies are now showing long-lasting damage to the mitochondria in the heart and other organs, even if the lungs make a full recovery.
Continued learning is important all the way through life, but that “to-read” list sure stacks up, doesn’t it?
Today’s sponsor Blinkist offers thousands of 15-minute book summaries (text and/or audio; you choose) to help with that.
Whether you go on to buy/borrow any given book, or are just happy to learn from the summaries, it really helps any passionate reader to allocate our time well!
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Mayo Clinic: The Best & Worst Sleep Position As You Age
Whether your habitual sleeping style is “the starfish”, “the vampire”, or “the rotisserie chicken”, there are benefits to considering the following:
Menu of sleepy repose:
💊 MAIN FEATURE
What does Rhodiola rosea actually do, anyway?
Rhodiola rosea (henceforth, “rhodiola”) is a flowering herb whose roots have adaptogenic properties.
In the cold, mountainous regions of Europe and Asia where it grows, it has been used in herbal medicine for centuries to alleviate anxiety, fatigue, and depression.
What does the science say?
Well, let’s just say the science is more advanced than the traditional use:
❝In addition to its multiplex stress-protective activity, Rhodiola rosea extracts have recently demonstrated its anti-aging, anti-inflammation, immunostimulating, DNA repair and anti-cancer effects in different model systems❞
Nor is how it works a mystery, as the same paper explains:
❝Molecular mechanisms of Rhodiola rosea extracts’s action have been studied mainly along with one of its bioactive compounds, salidroside. Both Rhodiola rosea extracts and salidroside have contrasting molecular mechanisms on cancer and normal physiological functions.
For cancer, Rhodiola rosea extracts and salidroside inhibit the mTOR pathway and reduce angiogenesis through down-regulation of the expression of HIF-1α/HIF-2α.
For normal physiological functions, Rhodiola rosea extracts and salidroside activate the mTOR pathway, stimulate paracrine function and promote neovascularization by inhibiting PHD3 and stabilizing HIF-1α proteins in skeletal muscles❞
And, as for the question of “do the supplements work?”,
❝In contrast to many natural compounds, salidroside is water-soluble and highly bioavailable via oral administration❞
And as to how good it is:
❝Rhodiola rosea extracts and salidroside can impose cellular and systemic benefits similar to the effect of positive lifestyle interventions to normal physiological functions and for anti-cancer❞
Source: Rhodiola rosea: anti-stress, anti-aging, and immunostimulating properties for cancer chemoprevention
But that’s not all…
We can’t claim this as a research review if we only cite one paper (even if that paper has 144 citations of its own), and besides, it didn’t cover all the benefits yet!
Let’s first look at the science for the “traditional use” trio of benefits:
When you read those, what are your first thoughts?
Please don’t just take our word for things! Reading even just the abstracts (summaries) at the top of papers is a very good habit to get into, if you don’t have time (or easy access) to read the full text.
Reading the abstracts is also a very good way to know whether to take the time to read the whole paper, or whether it’s better to skip onto a different one.
Perhaps you noticed that the paper we cited for anxiety was quite a small study.
The fact is, while we found mountains of evidence for rhodiola’s anxiolytic (antianxiety) effects, they were all small and/or animal studies. So we picked a human study and went with it as illustrative.
Perhaps you noticed that the paper we cited for fatigue pertained mostly to stress-related fatigue.
This, we think, is a feature not a bug. After all, most of us experience fatigue because of the general everything of life, not because we just ran a literal marathon.
Perhaps you noticed that the paper we cited for depression said it didn’t work as well as sertraline (a very common pharmaceutical SSRI antidepressant).
But, it worked almost as well and it had far fewer adverse effects reported. Bear in mind, the side effects of antidepressants are the reason many people avoid them, or desist in taking them. So rhodiola working almost as well as sertraline for far fewer adverse effects, is quite a big deal!
Bonus features
Rhodiola also putatively offers protection against Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebrovascular disease in general:
It may also be useful in the management of diabetes (types 1 and 2), but studies so far have only been animal studies, and/or in vitro studies. Here are two examples:
How much to take?
Dosages have varied a lot in studies. However, 120mg/day seems to cover most bases. It also depends on which of rhodiola’s 140 active compounds a particular benefit depends on, though salidroside and rosavin are the top performers.
Where to get it?
As ever, we don’t sell it (or anything else) but here’s an example product on Amazon.
Enjoy!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Blinkist: Powerful Ideas in 15 Minutes
Here at 10almonds, we love offering condensed knowledge that’s easy to digest, with pointers of where to go if you want to know more. And that’s what Blinkist does, too.
If your to-read list is the size of the Library of Alexandria and stands about the same chances of getting read in its entirety, Blinkist can help!
How, you ask?
Blinkist gives 15-minute book summaries! These take the form of a one-page text and/or audio summary (you choose either or both) of each chapter’s key ideas. It then offers you to buy the actual book if you want it, or if what you got from those notes is enough for you, you can just save them to a folder and move on to another book.
Basically, it really streamlines reading so that you can spend more time on the books most important to you!
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌎 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Global COVID cases up 80% as new subvariant rises
Heart, other organs show mitochondrial damage after COVID despite recovery of lungs
Treating a heart attack before it happens
High levels of satisfaction and low levels of regret after gender-affirming mastectomy
Portable and radiation-free imaging with magnetic nanoparticles
High-intensity interval training safe for pregnant women and their babies, study suggests
High-speed train tech can quickly spot airborne viruses
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives – by Dr. Daniel Levitin
We all know about age-related cognitive decline. What if there's a flipside, though?
Neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin explores the changes that the brain undergoes with age, and notes that it's not all downhill.
From cumulative improvements in the hippocampi to a dialling-down of the (often overfunctioning) amygdalae, there are benefits too.
The book examines the things that shape our brains from childhood into our eighties and beyond. Many milestones may be behind us, but neuroplasticity means there's always time for rewiring. Yes, it also covers the "how".
We learn also about the neurogenesis promoted by such simple acts as taking a different route and/or going somewhere new, and what other things improve the brain's healthspan.
The writing style is very accessible "pop-science", and is focused on being of practical use to the reader.
Bottom line: if you want to get the most out of your aging wizening brain, this book is a great how-to manual.
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Wishing you the most well-informed start to the week,
The 10almonds Team