Adaptogen

Adaptogens or adaptogenic substances[1] are used in herbal medicine for the claimed stabilization of physiological processes and promotion of homeostasis.[2] The European Medicines Agency stated in a 2008 reflection paper that the concept requires additional clinical and preclinical research, and is therefore not accepted into current terminology in the EU.[3]

Panax quinquefolius or ginseng is often claimed to have adaptogenic effects.

The concept of adaptogens was originally created in 1947 to describe a substance that may increase resistance to stress.[3] Adaptogenesis was later applied in the former Soviet Union to describe remedies thought to increase the resistance of organisms to biological stress.[2]

Most of the studies conducted on adaptogens were performed in the Soviet Union, Korea, and China before the 1980s, and have been partially dismissed for various methodological flaws.[3] The term is currently not accepted in pharmacological, physiological, or mainstream clinical practices in the European Union as it requires further studies and more data.[3] In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in 2013 to a Washington-based company for illegal advertising and false health claims concerning use of the word "adaptogen" for one of its products.[4]