Ashwagandha → Cortisol
Higher Ashwagandha decreases Cortisol.
Choudhary 2017 found that 300 mg of ashwagandha root extract twice a day for eight weeks lowered morning serum cortisol versus placebo in 52 overweight adults under chronic stress (13.41 versus 15.44 μg per deciliter at week 8, P=0.0132). Cortisol was a secondary endpoint in a weight-and-craving trial.
Randomized trial · Contested · N=52
Supported by an experiment or a tightly identified design. Read the caveats.
Mechanism
The authors treat a withanolide extract as an HPA brake. They think a lower serum cortisol number is why food craving and weight moved. This page is the hormone, not the scale. Choudhary, Bhattacharyya and Joshi (2017) assigned 52 Pune adults, PSS of 20 or more, BMI 25 to 39.9, to 300 mg of KSM-66 (5 percent withanolides) twice a day or matching placebo for eight weeks. Primary endpoints were Perceived Stress Scale and the Food Cravings Questionnaire. Serum cortisol was secondary. Baseline cortisol was 17.25 versus 16.76 μg per deciliter. At week 8 it was 13.41 versus 15.44 (P=0.0132). The change was -3.83 versus -1.32 (P=0.0019), a 22.2 percent drop from baseline on the extract. Tables use 25 people a side.
Caveats
Researchers assigned people to an extract or a control, so this is a trial stamp. Cortisol was not the primary. More papers of the same design do not settle the claim. This is a KSM-66 weight-management trial in people already stressed and overweight. A single serum cortisol is not a diurnal curve and not a CAR. The primary objects were a stress questionnaire and food craving. This page is not the sleep pair and not a reason to treat a cortisol number. This is a journal entry, not medical advice.
Effect
percent_change = -22.2. Choudhary 2017: 300 mg BID KSM-66, 8 wk, N=52 (25/25). Serum cortisol 17.25 to 13.41 vs 16.76 to 15.44 μg/dL (P=0.0132). Change -3.83 vs -1.32, P=0.0019. Secondary endpoint.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Ashwagandha → Cortisol.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-ashwagandha-cortisol (atlas updated 2026-09-02).
Papers
- Body Weight Management in Adults Under Chronic Stress Through Treatment With Ashwagandha Root Extract: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.
D Choudhary, S Bhattacharyya, K Joshi · 2017 · Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine