The Study
Effect of standardized root extract of ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) on well‐being and sexual performance in adult males: A randomized controlled trial
This is like a race where one group got a special supplement and another got a sugar pill, and nobody knew which one they had. Because it was a random, even split and secrets were kept, we can say that the supplement probably helped the men feel better about their sex lives and raised a hormone called testosterone. But we only know this for the kind of men in the study—Indian men in their 20s to 40s who were healthy but wanted more desire.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Researchers tested whether a supplement called ashwagandha could help men who felt low sex drive. They gave half the men ashwagandha pills and the other half fake pills (placebo) for 8 weeks. The men who took ashwagandha felt better sexual function and had more testosterone in their blood compared to the placebo group.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 581 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes are big and unlikely to be a fluke, but the study was small (50 men), lasted only 8 weeks, and only included healthy men with low desire, so it may not apply to everyone.
- 2On a sexual function questionnaire, ashwagandha users improved by about 10 points more than placebo users.
- 3Testosterone rose by about 72 ng/dl (17%) in the ashwagandha group, while the placebo group went up only about 5 ng/dl (2%).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Health Science Reports
Year
2022
Authors
Sanjaya Chauhan, Manoj Srivastava, A. K. Pathak
Related Content
Claims (7)
The root of the plant must be used, and the extract must be standardized, or the desired effects will not occur. Other plant parts or non-standardized extracts will not produce the same outcome.
Ashwagandha is an herb that comes in pill form. Healthy men who took 300 mg of the root extract twice a day for 8 weeks only had mild side effects like sleepiness, stomach pain, or joint pain — no serious side effects happened. So this dose of ashwagandha is safe for healthy men.
Men with low sex drive who took a pill made from the ashwagandha plant twice a day for two months had bigger improvements in their sexual function than men who took a fake pill. Their sexual function scores went up about 10 points more, and their overall improvement was 40% compared to 25% for the fake-pill group.
Men with low sex drive who took an ashwagandha supplement twice a day for 8 weeks had a bigger rise in their testosterone (a hormone involved in sex drive) than men who took a dummy pill. Testosterone went up by about 17% in the supplement group and only 2% in the dummy pill group.
Taking an extract from the ashwagandha plant's root—300 milligrams twice a day for 8 weeks—helps men with low sex drive. Compared with men who took a fake pill, these men felt more sexual desire and improved in all measured areas of sexual function: having sexual thoughts, becoming aroused, engaging in sexual behavior, having orgasms, and wanting sex.
Taking an ashwagandha supplement (300 mg twice a day for 8 weeks) does not change the level of prolactin, a hormone, in the blood of healthy men with low sex drive. Men who took the supplement had prolactin levels similar to those who took a placebo (a pill with no active ingredient).
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.