Effects of adaptogen supplementation on sport performance. A recent review of published studies

Abstract

Objective: Adaptogens are a new class of metabolic regulators (plants from natural origin) which have been shown to increase the ability of organism to adapt environmental factors and to avoid body damage. These properties offer the possibility to utilize them to increase the performance in situations of mental and physical stress, and thus used it to improve sport performance. Methods: A literature search was conducted for articles published until December 2012 in major databases. Publications were searched without language restrictions, using combination of Keywords. Results: Latest research show that Rhodiola rosea, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Schisandra chinensis, Panax ginseng and Erkang offer some physical and mental benefits to use in sport nutrition. Conclusion: This review demonstrate Adaptogen supplementation can improve the sport performance, however there are not enough reliable studies to conclude this assertion as absolute in all sports, therefore we suggest further researches with any of these Adaptogens in order to ascertain this results.