Ashwagandha is a mix of Toxins and said to increase risk of Spontaneous Abortion

Has your Big Pharma pep pill pusher ensured you give Informed Consent? Should you worry about 5 Completed Suicides reported to FAERS?

Let’s look at another component of “Mind Lift”,¹ Ashwagandha aka Withania somnifera, is also available from numerous vendors.

Memorial Sloan Ketting Cancer Center provides a balanced source of information listing claimed benefits, but it is their evidence of Harms that should always be brought forward by those who seek to get rich selling the stuff. Here is a snip.²

Under Contraindications, they state:

• Ashwagandha may increase testosterone levels, and should therefore be avoided in patients with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (48).

• Patients who take benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, or barbiturates should likely avoid ashwagandha because this botanical may have both sedative and GABAnergic effects (49).

• Pregnant women should avoid ashwagandha as it may induce abortion at higher doses (49).

I popped in to US Government FAERS and found 5 Completed Suicides reported from people taking “Herbals with Withania somnifera root”.

Other Serious Side Effects listed at FAERS include:

• Acute Hepatic Failure

• Drug Induced Liver Injury

• Jaundice

• Muscle Spasms

• Rhabdomyolysis

• Anxiety

• Delirium

• Fatigue

• Malaise

• Palpitations

• Sleep Disorder

• Fatigue

Over at the US Government Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD), we find confirmation that it is a complex mixture that will vary with extraction technique, but top interacting genes are shown.³

PubChem entry

PubChem lists one molecule found in the plant root, Withanolide D.⁴

PubMed literature

Searching Ashwagandha yields 1,875 peer reviewed papers.

Searching Withania somnifera finds 1,713 papers.

Australia’s TGA updated its warnings

In February 2024, TGA stated:

Key messages

• Medicines and herbal supplements containing the herb Withania somnifera may cause serious side effects (known as ‘adverse events’) in some people.

• Withania somnifera is a widely used medicinal herb and can be bought in supermarkets, health food shops and pharmacies without a prescription.

• You should immediately stop taking it and seek medical advice if you experience any of the following symptoms:

  • yellowing of the skin or eyes

  • dark urine

  • nausea

  • vomiting

  • unusual tiredness

  • weakness

  • stomach or abdominal pain

  • loss of appetite.

• If you currently have or have had liver problems, you should avoid medicines and herbal supplements containing Withania somnifera.

So that made me pop over to their DAEN and found over 70 products containing this poison, so it will be a future task to open them all up to count Cases and Deaths for each. You can help me if you like.

Wikipedia entry

Further information on some of over 50 chemicals in the extract, including Withaferin A, Alkaloids, Steroidal Lactones, Tropine (found also in Deadly Nightshade and Devil's Trumpet), Cuscohygrine, and a warning to avoid if Breast Feeding.⁵

Please share and let me know what you think.

1.

2. https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/ashwagandha

3. https://ctdbase.org/detail.go?type=chem&acc=C030693

4. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/161671

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withania_somnifera