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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 12 trials: lower anxiety and stress scores with ashwagandha than placebo

Akhgarjand and colleagues · Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2022

Original title: Does Ashwagandha supplementation have a beneficial effect on the management of anxiety and stress? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

Anxiety scores fell more with ashwagandha than placebo (SMD: -1.55, 95% CI: -2.37, -0.74) and so did stress (SMD: -1.75; 95% CI: -2.29, -1.22). Trials differed a lot (I2 = 93.8%). Certainty of evidence was low.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
12 studies, 1,002 people · adults aged 25 to 48 in 12 trials
What was tested
Ashwagandha extract compared with placebo; a dose analysis looked at amounts up to 12,000 mg a day
What it measured
The question itself: stress, anxiety and cortisol
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Phytotherapy research : PTR, 2022
Source
PubMed record 36017529. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 12 studies with 1,002 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: stress, anxiety and cortisol.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: stress and anxiety

    9

    7 benefit, 2 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    6

    3 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference, 1 no direction

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    1

    1 benefit

  4. Population studies

    1

    1 benefit

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does ashwagandha reduce stress and anxiety?”

Possibly, but the evidence is weak.

Confidence: low. Based on 24 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Other reviews on this question

See all 24 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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