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Adaptogens

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Adaptogens – Generators of Adaptation

One of the most major problems that affect everyone in the world today is STRESS. As infants and continuing through adulthood, we are all plagued by stress.

Some consider that a person in the modern world has much less stress than a person of the past. On the contrary, after all, the fear and trembling of the primitive hunter before a predator invokes the same stressful reaction of the modern employee before the terrible chief. However, while the hunter could release some of his stress by offensive reaction or escape, the modern employee has no means for release and simply has to suppress these emotions. The primitive person had less rich imagination; he was not pushed “to make mountains out of molehills,” reducing probability of development of mental stress.

According to the modern data four out of five adults suffer from some form of stress. Despite all modern conveniences making our life “easier,” we experience in one day, more stress than our primitive ancestors do in a month or year.

Not only is there more itself, results in formation of new stressful factors, such as radiation, products of the chemical synthesis, the modified forms of causative organisms, toxic byproducts, environmental pollution etc. One of latest and most dangerous is international terrorism, which is reaching all masses of the population. Acts of terrorism can invoke deep depression in a society, afflicting the most productive, highly educated and consequently most vulnerable part of the population.

If you were to ask if it was possible to live without stress, only the negative answer follows. To live without stress is impossible and even harmful. The question should be asked: How can we live in conditions of stress? According to author Hans Selye, it means to provide to itself a “stress without distress” (Selye has entitled on of his latest books (1); “A distress – Harmful, Unpleasant Stress”). For achievement of this purpose, Selye suggests to correctly estimate a situation and to switch on one or another group of hormones, the first – for “fight,” the second – for “complacency.” He also suggests that we normally react more strongly than we need to. The person himself should define an optimum level of stress. How to achieve it? The founder of the doctrine about stress correctly recommends to estimate the forces and not to try to solve a problem, which may be higher than opportunities of that given person.

What can a person do to combat stress? Let’s review the active methods of building up a resistance (ability to resist to factors of external influence) of an organism. They can be divided into three groups. The first group includes the methods using physical factors of influence, such as physical training and conditioning of the body. The second group: autogenic training, psychotherapy, and hypnosis. The final group is related to application of the biologically active substances. Professor Israel I. Brekhman called it – pharmacosanation.

The method of choice seems to be biologically active substances. Huge amounts of biologically active substances get into our bodies with nutrition, wine, soft drinks and medicinal preparations.

Undoubtedly, diverse vegetative nutrition plays an important role in modern conditions of human life. It gives the human not only a limited set of vitamins, but also a much greater number of the diversified biologically active substances. People from ancient times understood and appreciated the useful influence of these products of the ground and sun. It can be said, that reduction of this one part of nutrition is seriously reflected in a state of health of people and their resistance to stress.

Avicenna and other adherents of Oriental medicine widely used “medicinal nutrition,” or “alimentary medicine,” which were separate plants or more often their complex mixtures. Among medicinal plants of Oriental medicine, food plants make up about half.

Stress protection – is a peculiar engineering problem. For example there are mechanisms that may work in conditions of high temperature and humidity, which the human body can be subjected to. If it is to be a positive stress relieving mechanism the person should be able to pass through stressful influences and remain alive and minimally damaged. Agents are necessary, which would build the body resistance to stress while not decrease its capacity to work.

The specified purpose may be achieved only by optimization of the physiological processes inherent to the organism providing a natural general nonspecific resistance. This method has been chosen by professor N.V. Lazarev, he has offered this together with professor M.A. Roziny the new remedy – Dibazolum, and named the new group of medicinal substances – adaptogens. Further, the adaptogen doctrine has received development through the work of the Great Russian scientist, Professor I.I. Brekhman. The big role information of the group of remedies characterized as adaptogens is played by Eleutherococcus.

So, what are adaptogens? Adaptogens are a new class of biologically active agents, basically of the connatural parentage, creating in an organism a state of nonspecific raised resistance, and long consuming rising of adaptable abilities of an organism.

As was already mentioned earlier, the state of the nonspecific raised resistance arises at muscle trainings and has some similarity to a stage of a resistance of the general adaptation reaction, though is not completely identical to it.

Numerous experiments with Eleutherococcus, one of the most investigated and popular adaptogens, has shown that it is a pharmacological agent which relaxes the manifestations of stress and simultaneously builds up resistance and durability of an organism. This property of eleutherococcus was repeatedly confirmed in observations in studies with many volunteers.

Eleutherococcus was shown to build body resistance of rank-and –file members of a crew up to a level of the qualified sportsmen (2), which tolerated tropical conditions more easily. Another well-known adaptogen – leusea carthamoides was successfully used for improving the function state of the nervous system, augmentation of mental and physical efficiency at sailors in conditions of long Artic navigation (3). Preventive action of eleutherococcus successfully utilized for down stroke of a sickness rate among workers on chemical production (4), other production enterprises, and workers in agriculture (5). The most numerous (up to 60,000 workers) were conducted at a Volzhsk automobile factory in Tolyatti. The sickness rate of influenza has decreased 30-35% and work-losses 20-30%. Rather convincing, is the study, which was carried out with the truck drivers. They received a daily tea mixture with 0.25 ml of eleutherococcus extract for 2 months. Such courses of prophylaxis carried out 2-3 times per year for 6 years. Such application of eleutherococcus reduced the sickness rate with influenza and other illnesses, such as an ischemia and a hypertonia (6).

Whereas adaptogens use the steady popularity, many explorers and the commercial companies frequently hasty rank as adaptogens mass of new drugs, those not is being. With sufficient confidence it is possible to attribute to adaptogens only some agents: preparations of a ginseng (Panax ginseng C.F. Mey), eleutherococcus (Eleutherococcus senticosus Maxim.) (7; 8; 9), leusea (leusea carthamoides DC.) rhodiola (Rhodiola Rosea L.) (10), echinopanax (Echinopanax elatum Nakai), aralias mandzhurica (Aralia mandshurica) (11), acantopanax (Acantopanax sessiliflorum), schizandra (Schizandra chinensis) (12), Pantocrinum and rantarin. At present, in connection with the big scope of scientific data obtained, we can attribute to a class of adaptogens the Olygomeric Proanthocyanidin complexes (13), possessing the necessary set of biological activities (14). Considering, the fact that olygomeric proanthocyanidins represents the basic part of a polyphenolic complex of grapes, wine, apple and cider, which has been consumed by humans for over 6000 years (15) such age has viniculture and winemaking (16). All this allows us to express the statement about evolutionary adaptedness of the human body for awareness of these biologically active substances (13), which has been proved by numerous studies of pharmacological activity with this group of substances.

The listed preparations, not comparing differences in their properties, have much in common with the basic “adaptogenic” properties. They are “Generators of Adaptation”. They have a wide spectrum of protective activity against numerous unfavorable factors.

They raise fastness of animals to overheating and vigor to the raises muscular load. They also have a protective action to toxic influences of various chemicals and too many infectious contaminants, by stimulating the detoxification function of the liver.

On a normal background adaptogens have rather modest promoting effect. Their basic property is to recover and restore physiological functions, including ones during activity. In difference from stimulators of Phenaminum class, which effect is carried out as a result of the “exhaustion mobilization” of energy resources invoking subsequently long drop of function activity, adaptogens do not render such “squeezing out” effect.

Demands to which there should conform an adaptogen were formulated by Professor I.I. Brekhman (8):

This definition of the properties of adaptogens was made approximately 20 years ago. The basic requirements of adaptogens have been kept the same, until now; new facts demand addition of corrective amendments. To the perfect harmlessness of adaptogens it is necessary to add – in optimal doses. Functionally changed background is the basic condition of exhibiting of a biological effect of an adaptogen. However this “condition” does not work at chronic disease in result of steadfastly generated new pathogenetic relations, becoming normal for the given organism. For exhibiting of adaptogenic effect of it is necessary some “shakeup” of stress origin, for example surgery.

Thus, essence of action of adaptogens in rendering finally a positive effect on a function shape of an organism, without dependence from a direction of function alteration, optimizing physiological processes inherent to the organism, providing augmentation of a natural general nonspecific resistance.

Referenced Literature

  1. Selye, H. Stress without distress; VcClelland and Steward Ltd.; Toronto, 1974.
  2. Berdishev, V. V. Application of eleutherococcus in order to normalize of the organism shape of sailors in the tropics. In adaptogens and Adaptation; I. I. Brekhman, Ed.: Vladivostok, 1977; pp 119-124.
  3. Gerasiuta, M. A. ; Koval, T.N.; Keiser, S. A. Effectiveness of application of leusea carthamoides extract at sailors during the long-term artic navigation. In New data on eleutherococcus and other adaptogens; S. E. Li, Ed.: Vladivostok, 1981; pp 139-142.
  4. 4. Bulanov, A. E. ; Sheparev, A. A.; Agapova, T. M.: Puzanova, I. I.; Chernishova, R. M. ; Kaminina, L.N.; Bortovshuk, V. I. Social and physiologico-hygyenic aspects of phramacosanation of worker at conditions on chemical production. In New data on eleutherococcus and other adaptogens; S.E. Li, Ed.: Vladivostok, 1981; pp 88-92.
  5. Nikitin, S.A.; Orobinskaya, T. A.; Serkhacheva, T. N.; Pisareva, O. L. ; Spasov, A. A. Eleutherococcus as a remedy for phramacosanation of vegetable-growers during in period of intensive physical work. In New data on eleutherococcus and other adaptogens; S.E. Li, Ed.: Vladivosotk, 1981; pp 100-105.
  6. Cheshin, F.K.; Zinkovich, V.I.; Galanova, L.K. Eleutherococcus in prophylactic on influenza, hypertension, ischemia of drivers for VAF. In New data on eleutherococcus and other adaptogens; S. E. Li, Ed: Vladivostok, 1981; pp 93-94.
  7. Brekhman, I. I. Ginseng: Lenigrad, 1957, 182.
  8. Brekhman, I. I. Eleutherococcus: Leningrad, 1968; 185.
  9. Dardymov, I. V. Ginseng, Eleutherococcus: (To the mechanism of biological action); Science: Moscow, 1987; 184.
  10. Saratikov, A.S. Golden Root: Tomsk, 1974; 155.
  11. Shreter, A.I. Medicine herbs of Far East; Far eastern publishing house: Vladivostok, 1192; 160.
  12. Lupandin, A.V.; Lapaev, I.I. Limonnik: Khabarovsk, 1981: 126.
  13. Fine, A.M. Oligomeric proanthocyanidin complexes: history, structure, and phytopharmaceutical applications. Altern Med Rev 2000, 5, 144-51.
  14. Bezdetko, G.N.; Khasina, E.I.; Dardymov, I. V. Adaptogenic action of Kaprim. In Valeology: Diagnostics, tools and practice of health securing; I.I. Brekhman, Ed.; Dalnauka; Vladivostok, 1995; 178-197.
  15. Brekhman, I. I. What to set off against harmful influence of alcohol; Dalpress: Vadivostok, 1994; 70.
  16. Soleas, G.J.; Diamandis, E.P.: Goldberg, D.M. Wine as a biological fluid: history, production, and role in disease prevention. J Clin Lab Anal 1997, 11 287-313.

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