News & Articles - Rhodiola Rosea

April 30, 2000

Richard Hall-Ameriden®
International PO Box 1870
Fallbrook, CA 92088

Dear Mr. Hall:

I am writing regarding Rosavin and its benefits. I am writing to let you know how helpful it has been for my patients, colleagues, and friends. I feel its benefits for health should be widely known. I am not writing this for any compensation.

Rosavin has been extremely helpful in many areas. It is very good for calming down an overactive stress response system which not only is the most important factor in anxiety and depressive symptoms, but is the most important factor in numerous illnesses of aging. This clinical ability to produce calm correlates with animal and human studies, showing that Rosavin shuts down cortical production, a marker of the stress response system being overly activated.

Furthermore, it improves mental functions, not just memory but abstraction capacity, reaction time, and is an overall mental stimulant. This is true in normal people as well as, I believe, adults with attention deficit disorder. This clinical observation is supported by formally classified Soviet studies showing that it works significantly better than placebo on improving these and other mental functions. We need further scientific research to confirm my clinical impression that it is helpful in ADD.

I have found it extremely helpful in geriatric patients. It is useful in Parkinson’s to improve the response to levodopa. I also find it helpful in depression and cognitive dysfunction, post-stroke. These clinical observations are supported by recent studies showing age related deterioration of the dopamine and serotonin systems with age, based on animal studies and brain imaging studies in human beings. Rosavin enhances the function of numerous neurotransmitter systems including the dopamine system. It does this a least in part by inhibiting an enzyme called COMT. A recent German study suggests that COMT inhibitors protect the dopamine nerves from deterioration with age. It is therefore not a surprise that the people in the rural areas of the republic of Georgia and the former Soviet Union who take Rosavin (in tea form) all their adult lives maintain excellent mental function, even over the age of 100.

Animal studies done by Soviet scientists also showed that it acted as an emotional tranquilizer, but a stimulant of mental functions. And in addition to the other nerve systems I mentioned previously, it acts on norepinephrine and nicotine cholinergic systems in the brain. This means that it can act like cigarettes without the physical damage they cause.

In studies of human beings, the effects of Rosavin compared to placebo became most prominent when the human was subjected to mental or physical stress. That is in a totally calm, unstressed situation, it only shows a slight improvement over placebo but its affects become more and more evident under greater stress.

Of course, something of personal interest to me, is that it enhances athletic performance. There were numerous studies done by the Soviets and it was a crucial part of their Olympic program. It enhances endurance, strength, speed, and by reducing fatigue and recovery time it improves coordination. I have helped friends and colleagues improve their athletic capacity with Rosavin. In my own case, within the first three months of taking it, I added seven pounds of muscle despite little change in my workout regimen except to be able to work out harder and feel better afterward. My patients repeatedly commented that I must have lost weight. Of course in fact I had gained weight, but it was muscle.

Several Soviet studies showed that Rosavin was a helpful part of a weight loss program with some other herbal preparations and modest exercise.

A further area that I think warrants more study also is Rosavin’s effect on boosting immune function. This is further related to its ability to enable greater tolerance to the side effects of cancer chemotherapy. The Soviets did a number of studies in animals and humans to show that it helps survival with caner. In fact, this was the original thrust of their research on it.

Overall I see it as a remarkable breakthrough which can help in delaying aging and reducing the effects of stress upon us which accumulate with aging. In the last several years of lecturing doctors about breakthroughs in life extension and anti-aging regimens, I would continually be asked what should they take (since so many supplements are available on the market to help delay aging). I feel this is an extremely inexpensive and time proven herbal supplement for this purpose.

In terms of doses, the average normal person will benefit from 100-200 mg per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. The weight loss studies used approximately 300 mg per day. My own experience in treating mild depression and attention deficit disorder using Rosavin alone or in combination with other prescription medications is that anywhere from 100-600 mg can be quite helpful.

I find that because it will boost the effects of prescription drugs which are COMT inhibitors used for Parkinson’s, the doses of those other medications may need to be readjusted or they may need to be discontinued. Since Rosavin is a COMT inhibitor it is best not used, except perhaps at extremely low dose, with MAO inhibitors. Furthermore, as with any effective antidepressant, it could potentially cause manic symptoms in vulnerable bipolar individuals. It has been extremely well tolerated, even in patients in their nineties. Rarely there are some vivid dreams which can happen with many agents that are antidepressants. Rarely it will initially cause a little bit of upset stomach, this is quite tolerable if it is taken with food.

Although there are no controlled prospective studies, Rosavin has been traditionally taken for hundreds of years, even during pregnancy and breastfeeding. In fact there is both folklore and one open series suggesting that it enhances fertility in women. Women getting married there are given a large supply of the plant by their women friends and family (to help of course in their health and starting a new family).

How fast Rosavin shows its effects I find to be rather variable. Some people feel it within the first week or two and others find that it is more subtle development that occurs over two or three months. I encourage those trying it to give it several months.

It is a special privilege for me to let so many people know about something so simple, helpful, and affordable which can change the lives of so many people. Thank you for letting so many people know about this and to be able to bring it into their lives through you.

Sincerely,

Richard P. Brown, M.D.

RPB/sj

**Original letter on file at Ameriden International, Inc..**

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This information is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, cure or prevent any disease. The Food & Drug Administration has not evaluated the statements within.