Adaptogens. Butter coffee. Essential oils. You can find them on websites ranging from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to Alex Jones’s Infowars. Can they curb stress, fight fatigue, or make you sharper? Or do they just lighten your pocketbook?
Feeling run-down? Stressed? Anxious? Adaptogens to the rescue, say enthusiasts.
Ashwagandha, rhodiola, ginseng, and a variety of mushrooms like cordyceps, reishi, and chaga are on most lists of adaptogens—plants that supposedly help your body adapt to stress. (The lists vary because adaptogens aren’t clearly defined.)
“The charm of adaptogens is that they work with your needs specifically, adapting their function to your body’s needs,” explained Amanda Chantal Bacon to wellandgood.com in May 2016. (Bacon is the founder of Moon Juice, one of the biggest brands of adaptogen supplements.) Charming, indeed.
Is there evidence that they work?