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Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why?
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Researching supplements, a friend recommended Rhodiola Rosea, I'd never heard of it before.

Looking at studies and reviews, it seems a pretty mixed bag of those who feel it's effective, those who feel it provides zero anything, and those who feel irritable, anxious and sleep poorly after ingesting.


So, is this a scam and the benefits touted are BS, or does it depend on the person using it as a supplement (and if so, what are the factors), does it conflict with other supplements, are there good sources and bad ones, what's the story?
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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I took it hoping it would help with my fatigue issues but can't say I noticed anything while taking it. Later going through the process to sort my fatigue we found my adrenals weren't functioning well and I was suggested to take AdrenoTone adrenal support and I noticed it was high in Rhodiola Rosea but once again I can't say I noticed anything. That being said eventually found I had a gastric parasite and it was messing with me pretty bad. Post getting rid of it I still had some left over and feeling healthy again nothing noticeable.
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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From memory it’s in optygen hp, xendurance etc.... I’ve tried both supps and got nothing out of it. Like you, thought it’d be worth a try. Didn’t do anything for me atleast
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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You may have already researched this site.

https://examine.com/...ents/rhodiola-rosea/
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Shambolic] [ In reply to ]
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Shambolic wrote:
I took it hoping it would help with my fatigue issues but can't say I noticed anything while taking it. Later going through the process to sort my fatigue we found my adrenals weren't functioning well and I was suggested to take AdrenoTone adrenal support and I noticed it was high in Rhodiola Rosea but once again I can't say I noticed anything. That being said eventually found I had a gastric parasite and it was messing with me pretty bad. Post getting rid of it I still had some left over and feeling healthy again nothing noticeable.

Interesting....wonder in those who reported in reviews that they perceived some benefit, why they did....meaning, what's different about them (or what percentage actually had a positive physiological reaction versus thought they did? I'm pretty skeptical.

While in another sport years ago, I experimented with natural fuels/foods and supplements, and eventually tried stopping all vitamin supplements for 6 months to see what happened to my performance and feeling of health. The change was....there was no change. So I didn't take vitamin supplements anymore. A couple of years later, I tested spirulina with no other supplements being taken at the time, and noticed an energy level change, that was interesting.
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [IamSpartacus] [ In reply to ]
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IamSpartacus wrote:
From memory it’s in optygen hp, xendurance etc.... I’ve tried both supps and got nothing out of it. Like you, thought it’d be worth a try. Didn’t do anything for me atleast

Have you tried anything that you do consider healthy and beneficial/effective?
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Nolegs] [ In reply to ]
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Nolegs wrote:
You may have already researched this site.

https://examine.com/...ents/rhodiola-rosea/

Yep, did, and then read reviews and was not seeing anything definitively positive. Now curious to see if there is anything definitive from the community here.
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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Super D wrote:
Nolegs wrote:
You may have already researched this site.

https://examine.com/...ents/rhodiola-rosea/

Yep, did, and then read reviews and was not seeing anything definitively positive. Now curious to see if there is anything definitive from the community here.

That sounds pretty much like the definition of the placebo effect. You should be able to find a couple people who thought they felt an improvement. The problem is you can’t sort out a real improvement from a training effect and the supplement without some sort of controlled trial.

My guess is that if it had any benefit that would have been ferreted out by now. One of the big problems with many of the supplement studies in sports science is the small sample sizes and small effects from a legal supplement. If there aren’t a bunch of smaller studies over time that find at least some benefit then you can probably assume people have looked at it and didn’t pan out. There isn’t going to be much interest in doing another study if the last 4 found no significant difference.

Probably a good example is Nitrate from beets. This is still being researched because there is some consistant evidence it works.
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [grumpier.mike] [ In reply to ]
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grumpier.mike wrote:

That sounds pretty much like the definition of the placebo effect. You should be able to find a couple people who thought they felt an improvement. The problem is you can’t sort out a real improvement from a training effect and the supplement without some sort of controlled trial.

My guess is that if it had any benefit that would have been ferreted out by now. One of the big problems with many of the supplement studies in sports science is the small sample sizes and small effects from a legal supplement. If there aren’t a bunch of smaller studies over time that find at least some benefit then you can probably assume people have looked at it and didn’t pan out. There isn’t going to be much interest in doing another study if the last 4 found no significant difference.

Probably a good example is Nitrate from beets. This is still being researched because there is some consistant evidence it works.

Makes for a weird supplement market, doesn't it. The statements of what supplements do are generally misleading, as there isn't (in most cases) hard proof with statistical significance that they in fact do what the claims delineate. So there we have a multi-billion-dollar marketplace with claims which are spurious at best, and some of the supplements can cause health problems instead of improvements. This is why I gave up vitamin supplements years ago, I couldn't find validity in any of it.

Currently, the only things I've been ingesting for years beyond a generally clean diet with lots of green veggies, lean proteins and healthy fats are:
  • Probiotics - to help with digestive challenges
  • Baby aspirin + niacin - preventative against heart issues prevalent in my family

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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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Super D wrote:
IamSpartacus wrote:
From memory it’s in optygen hp, xendurance etc.... I’ve tried both supps and got nothing out of it. Like you, thought it’d be worth a try. Didn’t do anything for me atleast


Have you tried anything that you do consider healthy and beneficial/effective?[/quote

not healthy, or legal for racing, but prednisolone i took once for hives made me train like a beast once hahaha
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Re: Is Rhodiola Rosea a BS supplement, or effective for some people, and why? [Super D] [ In reply to ]
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Super D wrote:
Researching supplements, a friend recommended Rhodiola Rosea, I'd never heard of it before.

Looking at studies and reviews, it seems a pretty mixed bag of those who feel it's effective, those who feel it provides zero anything, and those who feel irritable, anxious and sleep poorly after ingesting.



those are the standard results for any drug intended to treat depression/fatigue/nervous system issues.. so not worse than any of the others, but has fewer side effects, so worth trying is my take. It does work for me, not dramatically, but improves sleep, perceived fatigue, etc.


Clinical trial for depression,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25837277


Reviewed,
It should be noted that benefits of neither the drug nor the herb differed much over placebo. Meta-analysis has shown that in cases of mild to moderate depression, pharmaceuticals generally do not work any better than placebo,1 which boasts a 25%-to-30% effectiveness rate.
Fournier JC, DeRubeis RJ, Hollon SD, et al. Antidepressant drug effects and depression severity: a patient-level meta-analysis. JAMA. 2010;303(1):47-53

Clinical trial for fatigue, https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/457918
  1. The results indicate that 2 × 200 mg WS® 1375 may be an effective treatment in subjects suffering from prolonged or chronic fatigue. The safety and tolerability of WS® 1375 also presented a favorable profile.




"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview
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