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Population study: followed a group

12-month study of 191 adults taking ashwagandha, with no comparison group: cortisol fell

Salve and colleagues · Phytotherapy research : PTR · 2026

Original title: Safety of 12-Months Administration of Ashwagandha ( Withania somnifera ) Standardized Root Extract in Healthy Adults: A Prospective, Observational Study.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

There were 18 mild side effects and no clinically significant changes in liver tests. Serum cortisol decreased (p < 0.001). Overall improvement was rated in 68.7% of patients.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Population study: followed a group
Who or what was studied
191 people · healthy adults aged 18 to 65
What was tested
Standardized ashwagandha root extract for 12 months, no comparison group; dose not stated
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
52 weeks
Trial registration
NCT06244147
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Phytotherapy research : PTR, 2026
Source
PubMed record 41063394. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –Shows a link, not a cause: people chose their own habits, and other differences between them may explain the result.
  • ✓Followed people over time, so habits were recorded before the outcome happened.
  • •191 people.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ 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

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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

Few other papers sit on the same step, so there is little to compare it with.

  • Counted on the ladder, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

Other papers on the same step

None among the papers we read.

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 two reads agreed on every checked field. 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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