Used in diet and slimming supplements industry wide – Rhodiola Rosea has gained a reputation as a multi purpose weight loss ingredient.
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Does Rhodiola Rosea Aid Weight Loss?
Also known as “golden root”, Rhodiola rosea is an adaptogen herb that’s becoming an increasingly popular supplement ingredient. The plant compounds it provides offer many benefits. Rhodiola is often used for weight loss and is also a key ingredient in many nootropic supplements.
Adaptogen herbs help the body “adapt” to physical and mental stress. Much of Rhodiola’s ability in this regard is due to the compound rosavin, which helps balance cortisol (stress hormone).
People have been taking advantage of its medicinal and health-boosting capabilities for many hundreds of years.
What Is Rhodiola Rosea?
Rhodiola rosea is a plant that’s native to the mountains situated in the Arctic areas of Asia and Eastern Europe. This explains the reason behind one of its many names—Arctic root.
People have been taking advantage of its medicinal and health-boosting capabilities for many hundreds of years. To this day, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine often use Rhodiola to boost stamina and reduce stress.
How Does Rhodiola Help Weight Loss?
Rhodiola supports weight loss in several ways:
- Boosts energy and fights fatigue
- Lifts the mood
- Enhances fat burning
- Improves endurance and performance
- Lowers cortisol
1. Boosts Energy and Fights Fatigue
One of the main ways Rhodiola assists weight loss is by boosting energy levels. This is a very useful ability because following a low energy diet can make you prone to feelings of fatigue.
There are two types of fatigue—physical and mental. Neither one is good. Fortunately, Rhodiola helps with both.
When physical fatigue sets in, it can make it very difficult if you want to improve your weight loss results via exercise. It can make it equally difficult to find the energy to perform everyday tasks at home and at work. Nobody wants to feel held back in this way so it’s good that Rhodiola can help you escape the clutches of fatigue by providing an energy boost.
Mental fatigue can be equally frustrating. It can ruin your mental focus and ability to concentrate. Mental fatigue can also generate pessimism and take the wind out of your sails sufficiently to make you forsake your dreams of weight loss.
By banishing mental fatigue, Rhodiola can help you maintain momentum and push forward in your quest to get slim.
2. Lifts the Mood
Rhodiola also fights depression and has a positive influence on the mood. This is another benefit most dieters are likely to appreciate. Especially, at times when sticking to their diets is particularly challenging and beginning to get them down.
So, how does Rhodiola achieve this important weight loss benefit? The scientists are still busy trying to figure it out. However, it has been speculated it may do so by boosting neuron sensitivity and increasing the activity of neurotransmitters including dopamine and serotonin.
Animal studies suggest Rhodiola may also be capable of helping repair neuron damage in the hippocampus area of the brain. This is the region that governs memory and emotions.
3. Enhances Fat Burning
Rhodiola also boosts weight loss in a more direct manner by enhancing the body’s ability to burn belly fat.
The herb helps you to burn visceral white adipose tissue by initiating increases in norepinephrine and hormone-sensitive lipase. Working together, they stimulate the breakdown of fatty acids and their subsequent release into the blood.
Some researchers believe the way Rhodiola affects belly fat can be especially pronounced when the herb is used alongside moderate exercise.
4. Improves Endurance and Performance
Exercise is not essential to weight loss but upping your activity levels is an excellent way to improve on existing results. Research shows Rhodiola can enable you to exercise for longer, helping you to achieve more noticeable levels of fat loss and weight loss.
You can read the results of one study in an archived edition of the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
Data from the study shows supplementation with Rhodiola increased oxygen uptake in the men and women who took part. The herb also increased red blood cell production.
The red blood cells have the task of carrying oxygen around the body. By improving oxygen uptake and enhancing the delivery mechanism, Rhodiola helps the blood carry extra oxygen to the muscles.
It’s this ability to get extra oxygen to the muscles that enhances exercise capabilities. The extra oxygen slows the buildup of lactic acid, ammonia, and other chemicals that are a byproduct of exercise. Among other things, these chemicals are responsible for the burning sensation in the muscles that eventually brings activity to a stop.
5. Lowers Cortisol
Cortisol is a stress hormone that can do many bad things to your body. One of the things it does is encourage it to hold onto fat. Especially in the areas around the belly.
Cortisol also hampers the body’s ability to vanquish toxins that cause aging. Fortunately, controlling cortisol is one of the things Rhodiola does best.
In addition to helping to keep you fat, cortisol can also cause thyroid issues that may slow your metabolism. This could make you even more prone to weight gain.
Think of cortisol as an enemy and Rhodiola as a potential new best friend.
Rhodiola Rosea and Weight Loss – The Bottom Line
Rhodiola is a versatile herb that can support weight loss in several ways. Its ability to provide nootropic support and deliver enhancements in training ability give it a lot of credibility in other areas as well.
However, despite the herb’s many impressive capabilities, it’s not generally used as a standalone supplement ingredient. Commercial diet supplements such as Phen Gold include it as part of a wider formulated product.
It offers the most benefit when it’s combined with other powerful, natural ingredients such as green tea and capsicum (powerful fat burners).
There’s a lot more to losing weight than just burning fat. A strict diet can rob you of energy, affect your mood, and cause other undesirable issues. Rhodiola is a herb that tackles these issues and helps you retain a sharper fat-fighting edge. Although there are plenty of good supplements that do not take advantage of Rhodiola’s impressive abilities, it’s always a good addition to have.
