Adaptogen

Adaptogens or adaptogenic substances, compounds, herbs or practices refer to the pharmacological concept whereby administration results in stabilization of physiological processes and promotion of homeostasis, for example, decreased cellular sensitivity to stress. The European Medicines Agency states in a 2008 reflection paper that the concept requires additional clinical and pre-clinical research, and is therefore not accepted into current terminology.

Normal pharmacological theory supports the receptor theory of drug mechanism, and the scientific community calls into question the validity of the concept of adaptogens, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency accept that the term can be used to assess traditional products.

In herbal medicine the categorization of different herbs as adaptogens is very popular, often with far-reaching claims of increasing longevity, libido and well-being. Most of the studies conducted on adaptogens were performed in the Soviet Union, Korea, and China during the 1980's. These studies have been criticized for various methodological flaws.

Adaptogens have been claimed to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, from fatigue to cancer.

The concept of adaptogens was originally created by pharmacologist N.V. Lazarev in 1947 to describe novel effects of dibazol 12-benzyl benzimidazol, an arterial dilator developed in France. Adaptogenesis was later applied in the former Soviet Union to describe remedies that increase the resistance of organisms to biological stress in experimental and clinical studies. According to the original definition, adaptogens are:

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