Does Ashwagandha Slash Stress And Clear Acne?

Today, we’re going to discuss a fascinating herbal supplement from India, one traditionally favoured by basketball players, bodybuilders and cheating Olympians rather than dermatologists. We’re going to discuss ashwagandha, an ancient 6000 year old secret.

Also known as Withania Somnifera or winter cherry, ashwagandha is a hardy, woody shrub with small red fruits that stands at 150cm to 200cm tall. The plant grows at moderate altitudes across a vast swathe of South East Asia.

Interestingly for acne, ashwagandha is particularly hardy and tough, thriving in moderate droughts while nearby plants shrivel up and die.

Its secret? Ashwagandha is loaded with natural defensive compounds, compounds with extraordinary medicinal properties.

This plant has long been a treasured remedy in traditional Ayurvedic medicine, revered as a “rayasana” or “royal herb” which boosts the immune system and prolongs life. Some teachers believe that ashwagandha mixed with milk is the ultimate tonic for fattening up emaciated children. Snake bites, snake venom and scorpion stings are also on the remedy list, and some historical texts even mention acne.

Interestingly, ashwagandha is commonly known as Indian ginseng, but has no botanical relation to either the Siberian, American, or Korean (Panax) ginseng species.

Instead, the similarity lies in ashwagandha’s signature medical power: calming stress and controlling anxiety. 

 

Ashwagandha could end the acne from stress

In the human body, cortisol is the main stress hormone, and elevated cortisol is easily among the strongest causes of acne.

You can feast on as much broccoli or kale as you want, but if your cortisol levels are sky high, then your digestive tract won’t absorb the acne-clearing nutrients inside them. Elevated cortisol inhibits collagen formation, weakening and ageing your skin, while other stress hormones can cause oily skin.

Read Annihilate Your Acne – get the greatest diet ever for clear and radiant skin

It’s vital for every acne patient to keep cortisol in check. The simplest solution is to de-stress mentally, but at heart, cortisol is still just another biological substance. Consequently, numerous foods and secret hacks can directly inhibit its production…

…and ashwagandha is among the finest. Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb, alongside rhodiola rosea and Korean ginseng. An “adaptogen” is any substance which helps the body to regain hormonal and psychological balance (homeostasis) during times of stress.

Adaptogens lower stress hormones, prevent the damage unleashed by stress hormones, and have a powerful relaxing effect on the mind. The Soviets were obsessed with them, using the rhodiola rosea herb to give their soldiers superhuman strength in Afghanistan, and even cheat in the Olympics, until their empire finally crumbled and the closely guarded secret came to light.

In ashwagandha, it’s a unique group of alkaloids called withanolides which work the relaxation magic. There’s also a more minor group of alkaloids called sitoindosides, along with saponins and assorted minerals.

 

An avalanche of stress-calming evidence

After millennia of head-scratching mystery, the ancient tales of ashwagandha have finally been confirmed:

ONE: firstly, we have this double-blind placebo study from 2012, testing 64 human beings with a history of chronic stress. Two groups were formed: a placebo group, and a group taking 300mg of the KSM-66 ashwagandha brand daily.

Next: the 6 vitamins and minerals which can massively reduce acne

By day 60, the ashwagandha group enjoyed a significant reduction in all stress scores, as assessed by a questionnaire, compared to the placebo group. Best of all, cortisol itself plummeted by a staggering 27%.

TWO: some scientists were primarily testing male reproductive health, by feeding 60 infertile men 5 grams of ashwagandha root powder each day (study).

This time, the reduction in cortisol was even more colossal – 32% after 3 months. Promisingly for acne, bloodstream antioxidants also rose. The study had a happy ending, with 14% of the infertile men happily impregnating their wives.

THREE: a study lurking in the depths of internet, which again gave highly stressed volunteers the KSM-66 brand, and this time observed a 14% reduction in cortisol.

FOUR: a growing pile of animal studies is similarly amazing for cortisol, but one 2000 study observed a direct reduction in mental stress and anxiety. In rats, the calming effects of ashwagandha were equal to the pharmaceutical anti-anxiety drug lorazepam, sold under the brand name Ativan. Lorazepam is notorious for its side effects such as nightmares, headaches and depression, but ashwagandha was remarkably safe.

FIVE: the most impressive study yet, albeit with a tiny sample size. A single 57 year old woman with an adrenal gland disorder was fed ashwagandha, and after six months of daily use, her bloodstream cortisol levels plummeted by 55%.

The old Ayurvedic mumbo-jumbo is promising as well, as ashwagandha is supposedly a “Medhya Rasayana”, meaning that it rejuvenates all three Ayurvedic aspects of the mind – comprehension, recollection, and memory.

Why bread and pasta are a massive cause of acne

In fact, ashwagandha is constantly mentioned in Ayurvedic textbooks alongside mental relaxation. This herbal supplement lowers stress levels on two separate fronts, inhibiting mental anxiety itself, and the burst of cortisol that anxiety triggers.

 

Ashwagandha preserves your antioxidants

Ashwagandha also has an extensively documented power to lower lipid peroxides, AKA fat soluble free radicals, the most vicious type for your acne.

Lipid peroxides are a double edged sword, beginning by overwhelming fat soluble antioxidants like vitamin E and thus creating a comedogenic (pore-clogging) compound called squalene peroxide. Secondly, hyperactive lipid peroxides can deplete the vitamin E across your entire body, thus redirecting your reserves away from the skin where they’re so critical.

Water soluble free radicals are menacing, but they don’t deplete fat soluble antioxidants anywhere near as strongly. Lipid peroxides are our true nemesis, and ashwagandha supplements can lower them:

ONE – scientists fed Mickey Mouse and his pals ashwagandha, which strongly reduced their lipid peroxide levels, which were previously elevated due to a lack of sleep (study). Glutathione levels also rose nicely. The herb was excellent for the mice’s sleep deprivation as well, another traditional usage in Ayurvedic medicine.

The 7 greatest topical treatments for naturally clear skin

TWO – this 2013 study, meanwhile, honed in on the compounds responsible – glycowithanolides, the herb’s main variety of withanolide. It’s been claimed that glycowithanolides are behind the herb’s aphrodisiac, rejuvenating, and life-prolonging qualities.

After injecting six month-old mice with free radicals and feeding them glycowithanolides extracted from ashwagandha, lipid peroxides fell substantially. The conclusion: “our results indicate that Withania somnifera (ashwagandha’s botanical name) has a capability of preventing oxidative stress“.

THREE – scientists fed some rats glycowithanolides extracted from ashwagandha once daily for 21 days. Not only did their lipid peroxide fall, but the self-manufactured antioxidants glutathione and superoxide dismutase shot up (1997 study).

This 2001 study was similarly excellent; rats were forcibly stressed once daily for 21 days, which strongly elevated the lipid peroxides in their bloodstream (an interesting link of stress to acne there). By feeding the rats glycowithanolides beforehand, this increase was prevented, and glutathione levels also rose.

FOUR – this study and this study found that ashwagandha corrected elevated lipid peroxides in animals exposed to short, sharp stress.

FIVE – a 2003 study which gathered several elderly rats with sky high lipid peroxides, and concluded that “Withania Somnifera successfully… inhibited lipid peroxidation in a dose dependent manner“.

We’ve already discussed some amazing adaptogens in our online acne bunker here, namely the three ginsengs and the Russian herb rhodiola rosea. So far though, only ashwagandha can lower lipid peroxides.

 

Unproven, yet promising anti-inflammatory powers

Ashwagandha also has several promising studies for inflammation. Two of its signature withanolides called withaferin A and 3-b-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrowithanolide F have promising anti-inflammatory properties (study), and other withanolides are similar.

In Ayurvedic textbooks, one of ashwagandha’s traditional uses is to crush the roots into a paste which can be rubbed into swollen joints, painful ulcers, or wounds.

Meanwhile, this study found that feeding ashwagandha to arthritis rats lowered their joint inflammation. Could it translate to your inflamed skin? Ashwagandha seems to be at least mildly anti-inflammatory, but these powers lack the avalanche of evidence enjoyed by ginseng. This works out neatly though, because it gives you two crystal clear options.

Green tea – proven to reduce acne by up to 51% in eight weeks

Firstly, if you’re highly stressed and determined to crack down on inflammation, then Korean ginseng wins. If you’re stressed out, but particularly stalked by free radicals, perhaps from air pollution, cigarette smoke, or toxic tap water, then ashwagandha reigns supreme.

 

Warning: ashwagandha may cause oily skin

Despite those excellent powers for acne, ashwagandha has one flaw, mainly for women. 

You see, when roughly translated from Indian Ayurvedic texts, ashwagandha actually means “smell of the horse”. Why? Practitioners believed that ashwagandha was so overwhelmingly anabolic that it would provide the strength and virility of a horse.

That’s almost certainly pure supplement company hype (what athlete wouldn’t want to be as strong as a horse?), but the stone cold fact is this: ashwagandha is a master at increasing testosterone levels:

ONE – this study gave 21 infertile men 675mg/day of the KSM-66 ashwagandha brand, and detected a 17% increase in blood testosterone levels. Explaining the increase, there was a 36% increase in luteinizing hormone (LH), a compound which stimulates testosterone production at the brain level. It’s theorised that withanolides, the main active compounds in ashwagandha, are responsible for this.

TWO – after taking 5 grams of ashwagandha powder for 3 months, 60 infertile human subjects had an average increase in bloodstream testosterone of 40%. The study was conducted on otherwise healthy participants.

THREE – two further experiments on infertile men yielded similar results (study, study). Both studies gave the men 5 grams of ashwagandha root, and noticed substantial increases in testosterone (40% and 16% for the infertile participants, 15% for healthy) after 90 days. Sperm quality also improved significantly.

Generally, increasing testosterone is a great thing, as it’s the elixir of muscle mass, a deeper voice, and a more content mind. For acne though, testosterone can heighten oily skin, by stimulating androgen receptors in the skin’s sebaceous glands and cranking up their output…

…but luckily, we discussed here how those problems can be easily overcome. You can eat more antioxidants, lower your insulin levels, and keep inflammation in check. Ashwagandha also lowers lipid peroxides so strongly that it’s like an inbuilt acne buffer already.

For women meanwhile, ashwagandha should be risker, because female skin is ten times more sensitive to androgens, but ashwagandha escapes by the skin of its teeth once again. Why? Because none of the studies above were conducted on women. The effect is not automatically applicable across genders, because a woman’s hormonal system works completely different.

Why using raw honey could revolutionise your skin

In fact, the testosterone increases were strongest in the men with pre-existing fertility problems. If ashwagandha merely restores testosterone to a healthy level, then it probably wouldn’t affect women at all.

Overall, oily skin is a possible risk, but realistically, a highly unlikely one.

Of course, if you’re an athlete hunting for testosterone-boosting secrets, ashwagandha seems to be incredible.

 

Advice for your acne strategy

Ashwagandha is a potent acne supplement indeed. There are no studies directly on acne, but if your pimples cycle back and forth in close tandem with stress and anxiety, an ashwagandha supplement could be excellent.

Almost every acne patient alive can benefit from decreasing lipid peroxides. There’s so many antioxidant-depleting contaminants in our lives today (see my eBook Annihilate Your Acne) that free radicals are menace which you must tackle.

But how do you make ashwagandha the most effective supplement possible for acne?

Firstly, the Ayurvedic school of medicine has many valuable teachings about various herbs like turmeric, but like any ancient practise, it peddles a lot of rubbish too.

Perhaps the biggest crime of all is Ayurveda’s recommendation of heavy metals. Old school Indian doctors believe that mercury, arsenic and aluminium all have healing properties, and intentionally add them to their herbal supplement concoctions. This is completely moronic; mercury is a neurotoxin, arsenic clogs your pores by accelerating keratin production, and aluminum empties your glutathione stores.

Nowadays, heavy metals are still an epidemic with ashwagandha; one freshly conducted 2015 study found that 50% of the market samples analysed contained mercury at levels “above the permissible limit“. Unintentional pollution is another factor: “consumption of Ashwagandha obtained from polluted areas may cause accumulated side effect… of the heavy metals“.

Clearly, this is not good for acne. Many “true” companies foolishly add heavy metals to respectfully align themselves with Ayurveda’s original teachings, but they’re just ruining their product.

Your foolproof solution? Always buy a reputable ashwagandha brand. Organic is preferable.

Finally, never forget cycling either. Like many herbal supplements, ashwagandha contains natural phytoalexins which accumulate in the body, which isn’t unhealthy, but it does increase your resistance to its stress reducing powers.

Vitamin D – the greatest nutrient for a bright and glowing skin tone

Therefore, you should only take ashwagandha when your mind really craves it. For instance, you could run a two week cycle during stressful exam season, or a busy period at the office, and subsequently take a whole month off. You could alternate to a different adaptogenic herb after two weeks, like rhodiola rosea.

 

The best ashwagandha product for acne

Traditionally, old school Indians always favoured an ashwagandha powder, mixed with whole boiled milk and flavoured with raw honey. Tellingly, one of the great cortisol studies used 5 grams of pure ashwagandha powder. The classic natural guru recommendation is boiling a single teaspoon into a tea for 15 minutes, to be drunk three times daily.

Therefore, if you’d love a flexible ingredient, and/or are crippling addicted to new recipes, then this bulk of Terrasoul Superfoods Ashwagandha Root (amazon link) is unbeatable.

This powder is incredibly versatile. You don’t have to brew a specific tea; you can just dump 1 teaspoon into an existing tea mug, or coffee mug, or yoghurt, or flavour some homemade dark chocolate (and maybe sell some batches to start a new health craze).

Alternatively, if you’d prefer total control over the dosage, then I’d recommend these Organic India Organic Ashwagandha capsules. This ashwagandha is certified organic and sourced from the finest quality shrubs, with chemical additives and stabilisers kept far away.

The final important issue is side effects. Like any herbal supplement, allergic reactions to one of the many obscure compounds are possible, but ashwagandha generally has a fantastic safety record.

Potential side effects include drowsiness, vomiting and stomach upset. Stop taking ashwagandha immediately if such side effects occur. Of course, I’m not a doctor and you should always consult with your doctor being taking such supplements, especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition.

 

Conclusion

In the acneverse, there’s endless different supplements with endless promising powers. Gelatin increase glutathione levels, burdock is loaded with prebiotics, and camu camu powder is almost pure vitamin C.

Ashwagandha’s claim to fame is massively reducing stress hormones while simultaneously lowering free radicals. If that’s what your skin needs, by your careful calculations, then ashwagandha may have potential.

Ashwagandha may also protect your precious heart, increasing HDL cholesterol while dragging down LDL cholesterol. Alzheimer’s disease is another casualty, as one mouse study showed significantly sharpened cognitive abilities, and reduced formation of brain amyloid plaques. That ties in closely with the mental benefits which ashwagandha is famous for.

Alternatively, if you’re a strength-obsessed athlete, then the boost in testosterone could be gamechanging. You could even become “strong like a horse”, if the old legends are true. If your main goal is raising an army of kids, then the studies above showed significant boosts in sperm counts.

NEXT: the ultimate diet for clearing acne permanently

 

 

Thanks for reading!