Rehmannia Glutinosa - Adrenal Tonic, But HOW?

[Lokzo]

Good evening all,

I am currently doing some research on Rehmannia Glutinosa since I realised that I was disobeying the fundamental principle of TCM, which is that you must restore Kidney Yin Jing energy, before using some of the strong Kidney Yang herbs. I have been using various Kidney Yang tonics and literally mirror the symptoms of Kidney Yin deficiency.

So I've started using Rehmannia Extract, and noticed that my libido has fully returned in full force, energy levels are up, sleep is better and mood/verbal fluency as high as I recall when I used Bromantane.

So, my question is, what is Rehmannia doing to the adrenals/cortisol? I've read some studies, but they are difficult to interpret.

Any ideas, greatly welcomed.

Thanks!

 

[Antonello]

Pharmacodynamics
Immune and adrenal cortex function
Uncured Rehmannia inhibited the metabolism of cortisol by hepatocytes in vitro. Simultaneous administration of exogenous adrenocortical hormones resulted in cortisol levels remaining close to normal. The authors believed the mechanism to be a competitive effect at the hepatocellular receptor that affected the uptake of corticosteroid hormone, thereby slowing the catabolism of cortisol.7

In a model designed for assessing effects in adrenal depletion, oral administration of uncured Rehmannia (3 g/kg) for 2 weeks to rabbits chronically treated with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone significantly raised serum corticosterone levels (p<0.001). Continuation of treatment resulted in further increases. Rehmannia treatment also prevented or reversed morphological changes in the pituitary and adrenal cortex, appearing to antagonise the suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.8 Such inhibition of the negative feedback of glucocorticoids on the HPA axis by Rehmannia could explain a trophic effect on the adrenal cortex.9


Now it would be cool if you can share which rehmannia you have used...I think both of them the raw and the prepared version are restorative for the adrenals but the raw form is the one they used in the study that similar to licorice and grapefruit juice inhibit the breakdown of cortisol through liver enzymes

 

[Lokzo]

Pharmacodynamics
Immune and adrenal cortex function
Uncured Rehmannia inhibited the metabolism of cortisol by hepatocytes in vitro. Simultaneous administration of exogenous adrenocortical hormones resulted in cortisol levels remaining close to normal. The authors believed the mechanism to be a competitive effect at the hepatocellular receptor that affected the uptake of corticosteroid hormone, thereby slowing the catabolism of cortisol.7

In a model designed for assessing effects in adrenal depletion, oral administration of uncured Rehmannia (3 g/kg) for 2 weeks to rabbits chronically treated with the glucocorticoid dexamethasone significantly raised serum corticosterone levels (p<0.001). Continuation of treatment resulted in further increases. Rehmannia treatment also prevented or reversed morphological changes in the pituitary and adrenal cortex, appearing to antagonise the suppressive effect of glucocorticoids on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.8 Such inhibition of the negative feedback of glucocorticoids on the HPA axis by Rehmannia could explain a trophic effect on the adrenal cortex.9


Now it would be cool if you can share which rehmannia you have used...I think both of them the raw and the prepared version are restorative for the adrenals but the raw form is the one they used in the study that similar to licorice and grapefruit juice inhibit the breakdown of cortisol through liver enzymes

I really appreciate the response here. Thanks.
I still find it confusing, though. Maybe I need to understand the function of the adrenal cortex a little better and how the inhibition of the negative feedback of glucocorticoids occurs on the HPA axis.

I had been using a combination of prepared and raw. 2 separate products.

 

[peatmoss]

Good evening all,

I am currently doing some research on Rehmannia Glutinosa since I realised that I was disobeying the fundamental principle of TCM, which is that you must restore Kidney Yin Jing energy, before using some of the strong Kidney Yang herbs. I have been using various Kidney Yang tonics and literally mirror the symptoms of Kidney Yin deficiency.

So I've started using Rehmannia Extract, and noticed that my libido has fully returned in full force, energy levels are up, sleep is better and mood/verbal fluency as high as I recall when I used Bromantane.

So, my question is, what is Rehmannia doing to the adrenals/cortisol? I've read some studies, but they are difficult to interpret.

Any ideas, greatly welcomed.

Thanks!

I was curious what you concluded after experimenting with rehmannia. Did it do much for you?