Influence of Rhodiola rosea on the heat acclimation process in young healthy men

Abstract

The adaptogen Rhodiola rosea (RR) may mitigate stress responses and have beneficial effects on endurance capacity (EC) and mental performance. Heat acclimation (HA) improves EC in the heat, but the potential impact of RR on the HA process is unknown. Therefore, our intent was to determine if RR has a positive impact on HA. Twenty male subjects (age, 22.5 ± 3.0 years) completed 2 EC tests involving walking (6 km·h) until volitional exhaustion in a climate chamber (air temperature, 42 °C; relative humidity, 18%) before (H1) and after (H2) an 8-day HA period. One group (SHR; n = 10) ingested standardised extract SHR-5 of RR (a single daily dose of 432 mg), while a second group (PLC; n = 10) administered a placebo prior to each HA session. Efficacy of HA was evaluated on the basis of changes that occurred from H1 to H2 in the time to exhaustion (TTE), exercise heart rate (HR), core and skin temperatures (T, T), stress hormones, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and fatigue (RPF), and thermal sensation (TS). HA significantly increased TTE (133.1 ± 44.1 min in H1; 233.4 ± 59.8 min in H2; p < 0.0001) and decreased (p < 0.0001) HR, T, T, stress hormones as well as RPE, RPF, and TS. However, the magnitude of all these changes was similar (p > 0.05) in the SHR and PLC groups. These results suggest that the use of RR during HA has no beneficial performance, physiological, or perceptual effects in young healthy males.

Rhodiola rosea supplementation on sports performance: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials

“…Four studies used highly trained athletes of different sports (Parisi et al, 2010; Shanely et al, 2014; Skarpanska‐Stejnborn et al, 2009; Walker et al, 2007). Eight studies used subjects who were active or recreationally trained (Ballmann et al, 2019; De Bock et al, 2004; Duncan & Clarke, 2014; Jówko et al, 2018; Lin et al, 2019; Noreen et al, 2013; Timpmann et al, 2018; Williams et al, 2021), and only one study used subjects that were physically untrained (Abidov et al, 2004). Most of the studies included participants between 18 and 30 years old, with the exception of one study where the participants were between 38 and 45 years old (Shanely et al, 2014).…”

“…30 days (Abidov et al, 2004;Parisi et al, 2010;Skarpanska-Stejnborn et al, 2009), one used 8 days (Timpmann et al, 2018) and one used 5 days (Lin et al, 2019). The remaining studies (Ballmann et al, 2019;De Bock et al, 2004;J owko et al, 2018;Shanely et al, 2014;Walker et al, 2007;Williams et al, 2021) combined both acute and chronic supplementation.…”

“…(2004) and 3 mg/kg was the dosage used by Noreen et al (2013) and Duncan and Clarke (2014). The chronic studies used 340 mg/d (Abidov et al, 2004), 432 mg/d (Timpmann et al, 2018), 200 mg/d (Skarpanska-Stejnborn et al, 2009, 170 mg/d (Parisi et al, 2010), and 800 mg/d (Lin et al, 2019)…”

“…In strictly chronic protocols, 4 studies measured BL (Lin et al, 2019;Parisi et al, 2010;Skarpanska-Stejnborn et al, 2009;Timpmann et al, 2018) Timpmann et al, 2018), although none of them found any significant differences in RR groups compared with placebo. Several studies used some measure of TTE, with each failing to find a significant effect of RR (De Bock et al, 2004;J owko et al, 2018;Parisi et al, 2010;Walker et al, 2007).…”

“…There were no significant differences in HR, rating of perceived exertion (Borg scale), VO 2max, or TTE between groups ( p > 0.05 in all cases). However, there were significantly lower levels of BL and CK in RR group compared with placebo ( p < 0.05) Timpmann et al (2018). studied the effects of RR in the heat acclimation (HA) process of 20 male military college cadets in an RCT, double-blind, and cross-over design.…”