Along the Ancient Silk Road – an important early Eurasian trade network – word spread, and an herb called astragalus quickly grew into a highly sought-after commodity.
Astragalus has long been recognized as a foundational herb of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A truly sacred plant, it was discovered by a Chinese herbalist named Shen Nong nearly 5,000 years ago and was first written about 3,000 years later.
Why was astragalus so highly valued back then – and still today?
Chinese practitioners long ago discovered that astragalus effectively supports the body’s many systems and functions against stressors.*
TCM places a great deal of emphasis on Qi, the body’s “life force” and protective energy – analogous to a “shield” against threats. It also focuses on the proper balance of Yin-Yang – the two opposing energies in the body – and their role in health.
Astragalus is believed to support Qi as well as many other aspects of health.* In fact, it’s one of the most important Qi tonifying adaptogenic herbs in TCM.
Slower to be recognized in the Western world for its many potential benefits, researchers are finally discovering what TCM practitioners have known for centuries.
Not only is astragalus a potent adaptogen that helps your body deal with physical, mental and emotional stress, it is also one of the most powerful immune-supporting herbs on the planet.*
Astragalus and Your Immune Health
In Western medicine, the immune system is considered the primary energy of your body – much like the role of Qi in TCM.
Astragalus has been long respected for its value in supporting healthy immune function. Researchers are now discovering this important herb supports immune health in multiple ways: *
- Supports immune function by promoting normal levels of specific immune cells*
- Supports the function of immune cells – your body’s primary defense*
- Supports an already normal inflammatory response*
- Supports the body’s resistance to threats*
- Supports free radical scavenging*
Certain components found in astragalus – flavonoids and saponins – are believed to have a powerful free radical-scavenging ability, which supports immune function.
Perhaps one of the most important discoveries about astragalus is that it not only actively supports your body’s natural defense mechanisms, but it also helps promote a balanced immune response against everyday threats.*
How Stress and Emotions Influence Your Physical Health
There’s no question that prolonged or unresolved stress can have a negative impact on your health.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, both endogenous – or inner – and exogenous – or external – factors influence Qi and Yin-Yang balance and contribute to one’s state of health.
Endogenous factors include stress and the emotional states of anger, grief, fear, worry, sadness and shock. In TCM, each emotion is associated with an internal organ and dictates the circulation and direction of Qi, or energy, in the body.
When stress and other emotional states are excessive, prolonged or unresolved, they can have a negative effect on your immune function and overall health.
Exogenous factors include environmental and climatic elements such as wind, cold, dampness, dryness and heat, as well as pollution, poor diet and lifestyle.
All of these factors, but especially the TCM concepts of balance and calmness of mind, are directly related to psychological, neurological and immunological health.
This is where adaptogens can play an important role.
As a potent adaptogen, astragalus supports your body’s defenses. Plus, it appears to be especially useful for supporting immune function when the body becomes stressed by all types of challenges.*
Why Your Body Can’t Tell the Difference Between Major and Minor Sources of Stress
Stress isn’t all bad – it can serve an important protective role by activating your sympathetic or fight-or-flight response to potential threats. This is a positive thing if you are facing a real threat to your well-being.
However, most threats don’t warrant an all-out nervous system response.
There’s a big difference between the stress your ancestors might have encountered like running from a tiger and the stress today involved with a meeting at work or a broken-down car.
Unfortunately, your body internalizes major and minor stressors in a similar manner. Your heart and thoughts race as your adrenal gland releases cortisol (a stress hormone) and adrenaline for a potentially life-saving boost of energy.
If the stress isn’t resolved – and with today’s hectic lifestyle, a lot of stress isn’t – your body remains on high alert.
While your body may learn to co-exist with a higher level of stress, it can undergo often undetected physical changes to allow it to do so. At times, you may feel like you have a stressful situation under control, but…
- Your body continues to release stress hormones
- Your blood pressure remains elevated
- Your body enters the exhaustion stage that can lead to mood changes, fatigue and a lower tolerance to stress
- Your immune system weakens
The Role Adaptogens Play in Your Physical, Mental and Emotional Well-Being
Living with prolonged or continued stress, even over seemingly minor issues, without an effective way to turn it off can turn emotions into physical symptoms.
Adaptogenic herbs are nature’s solution to counteracting the potentially negative effects of stress on your body. They can help your body stave off the more advanced stages of the stress response and help you cope with the stressful situation at hand.
Here’s one of the most important benefits of adaptogens: They’re able to change their function depending on the specific needs of your body.
As their name implies, they can “adapt” to support whatever function your body needs help with – whether it be physical, mental or emotional. Beyond the beneficial effects of adaptogens on your immune and other aspects of health, when you are better able to cope with stress – or “adapt” – you feel better and life seems “easier.”
In their action to modulate, or calm, the stress response, adaptogens help support restful sleep, positive mood, digestion and even more comfortable movement.
So as an adaptogen, what about astragalus makes it so potentially valuable for your health?
The 3 Primary Health-Supporting Components of Astragalus
Astragalus, also known as “Huang Qi,” comes from the root of a perennial flowering plant in the pea family native to Mongolia, Korea and northeast China. There are over 2,000 species of astragalus, but only two are used for supporting health.
The most valuable part of Astragalus membranaceus for health is its roots, and they are typically harvested when the plant reaches three to five years of age.
Astragalus root contains many active plant compounds – saponins, polysaccharides, amino acids, flavonoids, organic acid, glycosides, alkaloid and trace elements.
Three of these have been closely studied for their health-supporting qualities:
- Polysaccharides The polysaccharides in astragalus are known for their immune-supporting properties against everyday threats to health, and support an already healthy inflammatory response. They’re especially effective during times of environmental or other challenges due to stress.*
- Saponins These health-promoting, naturally-occurring phytochemicals are best known for their ability to support immune and cellular health. Saponins also support healthy cholesterol levels already in the normal range.*
- Flavonoids Potent antioxidants, these compounds play a key role in scavenging excessive free radicals, protecting against free radical damage, and supporting heart and cell health.*
Let’s take an even closer look at how these components in astragalus can help support your health.
12 Ways Astragalus Supports Your Health
Offering widespread support for your health, astragalus is known to support many systems and organs in your body, including your:
- Immune function – Supports a normal, balanced immune response by helping to maintain healthy levels and function of key immune cells*
- Cells – Supports mitochondrial health and healthy cellular aging*
- Lymphatic system – Supports your normal detoxification processes and the removal of wastes and toxins from cells*
- Lungs and respiratory system – Supports the integrity of the respiratory tract as well as endurance and exercise capacity*
- Kidney and urinary tract – Supports kidney and urinary tract health*
- Gastrointestinal tract and digestion - Supports a healthy digestive tract and intestinal mucosa*
- Liver – Supports healthy liver cells and hepatic function*
- Reproductive organs – Supports reproductive organ health, healthy hormone production and fertility*
- Bones and muscle – Supports healthy collagen production and bone health*
- Skin – Promotes healthy skin*
- Cardiovascular system – Supports healthy blood flow and cardiac function*
- Nervous System – Supports the adrenal glands*
Many people, especially older individuals, hold astragalus in high esteem for its ability to support healthy cellular aging.* Could it help make a difference in the lifespan of your cells – and ultimately your entire body?
How Astragalus Supports Healthy Cellular Aging
As the cells in your body replicate, bits of DNA on the ends of your chromosomes – called telomeres – shorten. Even though this crucial genetic information remains intact, telomeres become increasingly shorter with age.
In effect, your telomeres act as aging clocks in each of your cells and affect how they age. Telomeres are involved in every stage of the aging process at the cellular level.
The shortening of telomeres can be hastened by stress, obesity, poor diet, inactivity and smoking. Short telomeres are linked to premature cellular aging.
Telomeres are much like the plastic caps on the ends of shoelaces. As telomeres wear down they become shorter in length. Once telomeres become too short they can no longer protect the DNA strands in your cells. Without that protection, your cells break down and die.
Astragalus contains at least two saponins that support healthy telomeres and cells – Astragaloside IV and Cycloastragenol. Both support the normal activation of telomerase – anti-cellular-aging enzymes – to support telomere health and normal cellular aging.*
Whereas telomerase enzymes support the health of your existing telomeres, they can’t create new telomeres as your body ages.*
Another way astragalus supports cell health is to help protect cells from harmful elements, such as free radicals and oxidative stress. It does this by supporting your mitochondrial health.*
Your mitochondria – the powerhouses in your cells – are regarded as the “pacemakers” of cellular aging due to the free radicals and reactive oxygen species, or ROS, they continually produce. This increase in ROS can damage cell components and genetic material.
The polysaccharides in astragalus contain manganese superoxide, or SOD, which is an important detoxifying enzyme. Astragalus polysaccharides appear to support mitochondrial health by scavenging ROS.*
What Matters Most When Choosing an Astragalus Supplement
The two most important factors to consider when choosing an astragalus supplement are purity and strength.
Surprisingly, few formulas place emphasis on the strength of the most valuable components in astragalus – especially polysaccharides. A quick search for astragalus reveals a dizzying array of formulas with high levels of astragalus – sometimes as high as 3,000 mg.
While those high numbers may sound impressive, they’re misleading. High levels of astragalus tell you nothing about the strength or purity of the product.
What really matters is whether the formula is standardized for its polysaccharides. Without standardized levels of its active ingredient, you have no guarantee of its potency.
Purity is important, too. When evaluating an astragalus supplement, consider how the astragalus was extracted from the roots. Were solvents or harsh chemicals used that could potentially remain in the finished extract?
Our Organic Astragalus Extract avoids all these issues. It is:
- Certified USDA Organic so you know you’re getting a high-quality product grown without potentially harmful pesticides and herbicides.
- Standardized to provide 300 mg of polysaccharides per two-tablet serving.
- Prepared using pure water extraction without high heat, solvents or toxic chemicals.
Because you’re assured of a high level of polysaccharides in our product, you don’t need to spend extra for extremely high doses of astragalus like what’s in some products.
The Perfect Combo – Astragalus, Ginseng and Licorice*
Astragalus is often used in combination with other adaptogenic herbs, especially Ginseng and Licorice, to support a healthy stress response and energy production.* All three herbs are mainstays in Chinese medicine.
- Ginseng (Panax ginseng) is one of the most sought-after herbs in Eastern medicine for its reported ability to support the body’s life force and longevity. Sometimes called the “fountain of youth,” ginseng is highly regarded, especially by the elderly population in the East.*
- Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) has historically been considered the “ambassador” or the herb that enhances the synergistic effects of complimentary herbs. Believed to be carried by the armies of Alexander the Great, licorice has long been valued for its ability to support endurance.*
To receive optimal benefits from our Organic Astragalus Extract , I recommend taking it with our Fermented Ginseng and Solspring® Biodynamic® Organic Fermented Licorice Powder.*
Give Your Body the Double-Duty Support It May Need With Our Organic Astragalus Extract*
Not only is astragalus a potent adaptogen that helps your body deal with physical, mental and emotional stress, it is also one of the most powerful immune-supporting herbs in the world.*
Our Organic Astragalus Extract supports your body’s defenses by promoting a healthy, normal immune response, and, at the same time, it helps modulate your body’s healthy response to stress.*
And with our Organic Astragalus Extract , you receive a formula that’s both standardized for valuable polysaccharides for efficacy and dependability and Certified USDA Organic for your peace of mind.
When you want the unique combination of soothing support to help you meet the stresses of everyday life, along with reliable support for your body’s defenses, order your supply of Organic Astragalus Extract today.