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Randomized trial · measured lab tests or safety

42-day trial in 56 team athletes: cortisol rose with placebo but not with ashwagandha

Coope and colleagues · Nutrients · 2026

Original title: Ashwagandha Root Extract Stabilises Physiological Stress Responses in Male and Female Team Sports Athletes During Pre-Season Training.

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

Saliva cortisol rose in placebo females (p = 0.001) and saliva cortisone rose in placebo males (p = 0.022), not in the ashwagandha groups. Recovery scores improved in ashwagandha females (p = 0.001).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
56 people · male and female team sport athletes in pre-season training
What was tested
600 mg a day of ashwagandha root extract for 42 days, vs placebo
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Daily amount
600 mg a day
How long
6 weeks
Trial registration
NCT07041853
Who has a stake
Company stake
Two authors consult and speak for supplement companies, some of which sell this supplement; authors say no direct interest in the product.
Journal
Nutrients, 2026
Source
PubMed record 41599843. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 56 people.
  • –Short: 6 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for stress, anxiety and cortisol. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • –Company stake: Two authors consult and speak for supplement companies, some of which sell this supplement; authors say no direct interest in the product.
  • •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

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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

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 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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