We admit it: we are bit obsessed with ashwagandha.

Take a look at our Premium line, and you will see that ashwagandha is found in high dosage amounts in over 30% of our products. I guess when you find something that works, its hard to stray too far away...

But the real question you are all asking (because that's the reason you are reading this article, right?), is WHY. WHY is ashwagandha such a stand-alone ingredient? WHY does its name appear more often then not in the supplement industry? And WHY should you be supplementing with it? 

Let's first look at the history of ashwagandha.

A major player in Ayurvedic medicine (an ancient Indian medicinal system that has been around for almost 5,000 years), ashwagandha is a small, woody shrub that grows only to about two feet in height, and is found in India, Africa, and some Mediterranean countries. Also known by its scientific name as Withania somnifera, it was long ago discovered that ashwagandha's benefits were both impressive and extensive. Ayurveda is a practice that embodies preventative, proactive wellness, and ashwagandha became the flagship herb in the practice due to its wide range of preventative uses, such as:

• Helps promote a healthy response to everyday stress, work, and fatigue (KSM-66® Ashwagandha, n.d.)
• Helps support normal levels of mental clarity, concentration, and alertness (KSM-66® Ashwagandha, n.d.)
• Helps support normal levels of vigor and performance (KSM-66® Ashwagandha, n.d.)
• Helps enhance sports performance (KSM-66® Ashwagandha, n.d.)
• Can help increase muscle mass and aide in recovery time (Wankhede, S., Langade, D., Joshi, K., Sinha, S. R., & Bhattacharyya, S., 2015)
• Assists with body weight management (Choudhary, D., Bhattacharyya, S., & Joshi, K., 2017)
• Has anti-aging inducing potential (Raguraman, V., & Subramaniam, J. R., 2016)

Seven of our Premium products contain Ashwagandha Root Extract.

John Mills (Director, Quality & Compliance; Head Formulator; NPA Board Member; and Quality Control Manager for Highland Laboratories/Mt. Angel Vitamins for 23 years) names Ashwagandha extract as one of his favorite Premium product line ingredients. "For overall vital energy, my favorite ingredient [in the Premium product line] is without a doubt ashwagandha," he says. Mills believes that energy support--one of a handful of major supplement needs--is crucial to almost every product, and "was the reason I made sure to include it in all our multivitamins." Not only will you find ashwagandha root extract, (or the trademarked version KSM-66® in its most concentrated form), in all of Mt. Angel Vitamins' multis, but you will also find it in Adrenal Support, Maximum Male, and Fabulously Female. 

When it comes to our multivitamins--a product made for "complete wellness in a bottle"--any ingredient that hosts more than one clinically-proven benefit is always our first choice. Want more information? You can read up on the clinical studies of ashwagandha below: 

Chandrasekhar, K., Kapoor, J., & Anishetty, S. (2012, July). A prospective, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of safety and efficacy of a high-concentration full-spectrum extract of ashwagandha root in reducing stress and anxiety in adults.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/234397

Ambiye, V. R., Langade, D., Dongre, S., Aptikar, P., Kulkarni, M., & Dongre, A. (n.d.). Clinical Evaluation of the Spermatogenic Activity of the Root Extract of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) in Oligospermic Males: A Pilot Study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24371462

Choudhary, B., Shetty, A., & Langade, D. G. (n.d.). Efficacy of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera [L.] Dunal) in improving cardiorespiratory endurance in healthy athletic adults.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26730141

Wankhede, S., Langade, D., Joshi, K., Sinha, S. R., & Bhattacharyya, S. (2015, November 25). Examining the effect of Withania somnifera supplementation on muscle strength and recovery: a randomized controlled trial. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26609282

Choudhary, D., Bhattacharyya, S., & Joshi, K. (2017, January). Body Weight Management in Adults Under Chronic Stress Through Treatment With Ashwagandha Root Extract: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27055824 

Publishing, S. R. (2016, April 15). Withania somnifera Root Extract Enhances Telomerase Activity in the Human HeLa Cell Line. Retrieved 0, from https://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=65533