Called "The Wonder Herb of India," ashwagandha is gaining popularity as more people discover its rich 5,000 year healing tradition and stress relieving power. Spice Pharm uses a special organic extract called KSM-66®. Made with green chemistry principals, KSM-66 concentrates ashwagandha's vitality-promoting power by 10x.
Spice Pharm's Golden Goddess Turmeric Chai Elixir and Chocolate Elixirs unleash the power of ashwagandha in delicious stress-relieving, cortisol-balancing beverages for healthy weight management.
KSM-66 Ashwagandha has the most impressive set of research studies and clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of ashwagandha. This large pool of research includes: 11 human studies completed; 8 on-going human studies and 3 animal studies.
They adhere to the "gold standard" of research design: double blind, placebo controlled and randomized. Research shows that KSM-66 Ashwagandha provides a wealth of benefits:
Overview: Stress, anxiety, depression and lack of sleep all contribute to weight gain. This research, published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, was a double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled study. It showed that KSM-66 Ashwagandha provides benefits for weight management by significantly reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and perceived levels of stress, anxiety and depression, improving the quality of sleep and enhancing the quality of life.
The study examined how KSM-66 functions as an adaptogen assisting the body in producing a normalizing effect for reducing stress and anxiety.
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen. Adaptogens are an elite class of herbs that help the body cope with all kinds of stress. Adaptogens are unique as they assist the body to “normalize”, thus giving you energy when you need it during the day, or making you sleepy at night. It makes you function how you should function while being non-addictive and safe. Adaptogens have been used for centuries in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese medicine for their powerful healing properties.
Now science is backing up the traditional knowledge. But it’s absolutely essential to use the right type of the product. Not all ashwagandha extracts and supplements are created equal. This study specifically uses KSM-66, the ashwagandha that Spice Pharm uses in Golden Goddess and Food of the Gods Elixirs.
Study Details
The principal investigator who conducted the study, Dr. K. Chandrasekhar, is a distinguished physician and one of India’s leading psychiatrists.
A group of 64 people were divided into 2 groups. One group of 32 people took 300mg of ashwagandha twice a day for 60 days. The other 32 people took a placebo (essentially a sugar pill). It was double blind. That means that neither the experimenters nor the participants knew what they were getting.
Results were measured several ways:
Participants in the KSM-66 group showed significantly reduced stress using well-established stress assessment scales:
Results: Ashwagandha and cortisol
Blood levels of cortisol dropped significantly for the people taking KSM-66ashwagandha, decreasing by 27.9% in only 60 days.
Results: Ashwagandha and Anxiety
After 60 days, the people in the ashwagandha group had far lower levels of anxiety than people in the placebo group. Their anxiety levels decreased by 75.6%.
Results: Ashwagandha and Depression
The people in the ashwagandha group had their depression lowered by an impressive 79.2%.
Results: Ashwagandha and Sleep
The ashwagandha group taking 300mg twice a day reported significantly improved sleep quality and lower levels of insomnia after 60 days, reporting a 69.7% decrease in insomnia. The ashwagandha didn’t need to be taken before bed to help with sleep -- people who took it during the day ended up sleeping much better at night.
This innovative study is possibly the first time a supplement has been tested for its positive effects not only on stress and weight loss, but on happiness as well!
Overview: A recent double blind, randomized and placebo-controlled study featuring KSM-66 Ashwagandha for weight loss demonstrated significant reduction in cortisol levels, body weight, body mass index (BMI), and improvements in psychometric scales.
This study involved a group of 50 healthy subjects to evaluate the effectiveness of KSM-66 in reducing body weight in adults under chronic stress. One group received 300 mg of ashwagandha twice daily, while the other group received a placebo.
Results: At the end of 56 days, the ashwagandha treatment group saw greater improvements than the placebo:
In addition, the ashwagandha group saw significant improvements relative to the placebo group on psychometric scales:
Researchers conclude that “Food cravings and serum cortisol being well-recognized mediators of the relationship between stress and weight gain, the results suggest that KSM-66 Ashwagandha supplementation may reduce weight and BMI through reduction in food cravings and serum cortisol."
This shows that ashwagandha a positive impact on eating behavior and normalizing hunger.
Overview: Improving body composition by increasing the amount of lean body mass relative to fat is a key goal for weight management.
In this randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study, a group of 50 healthy men who didn’t smoke or drink were the subjects. They divided the group into 2, the ashwagandha group and the control (placebo) group.
Both groups exercised for 8 weeks on the same program. Researchers measured the bench press max and leg extension max (as well as other exercises and number of reps) for each group at the start and end of the study. They also measured body composition.
Results: KSM-66 significantly improved muscle strength and size, and decreased body fat percentage. The ashwagandha group burned significantly more fat than the control group.
The ashwagandha group also increased their strength, their lean muscle size, decreased their recovery time, and increased their overall athletic performance.
The ashwagandha group:
NOTE: Ashwagandha Root vs. Leaves: All Extracts Are Not the Same!
Many ashwagandha extracts include the plant’s leaves instead of just the root. However, KSM-66 uses ONLY the roots with no adulteration by leaves. According to Ayurveda textbooks as well as the Indian, British and U.S. Pharmacopeias, the restorative, invigorating and strengthening properties of ashwagandha are attributed to its root and not to its leaves. In Europe, usage of leaf extracts is not allowed for internal use and is limited to external topical application in inflammatory conditions. Spice Pharm uses only KSM-66 Ashwagandha in our products.
KSM-66 is a registered trademark of Ixoreal Biomed Ltd., Hyderabad, India