Rhodiola rosea Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern Times Each volume in this series provides academia, health sciences, and the herbal medicines industry with in-depth coverage of the herbal remedies for infectious diseases, certain medical conditions, or the plant medicines of a particular country. Series Editor: Dr. Roland Hardman Volume 1 Shengmai San, edited by Kam-Ming Ko Volume 2 Rasayana: Ayurvedic Herbs for Rejuvenation and Longevity, by H.S. Puri Volume 3 Sho-Saiko-To: (Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang) Scientific Evaluation and Clinical Applications, by Yukio Ogihara and Masaki Aburada Volume 4 Traditional Medicinal Plants and Malaria, edited by Merlin Willcox, Gerard Bodeker, and Philippe Rasoanaivo Volume 5 Juzen-taiho-to (Shi-Quan-Da-Bu-Tang): Scientific Evaluation and Clinical Applications, edited by Haruki Yamada and Ikuo Saiki Volume 6 Traditional Medicines for Modern Times: Antidiabetic Plants, edited by Amala Soumyanath Volume 7 Bupleurum Species: Scientific Evaluation and Clinical Applications, edited by Sheng-Li Pan Volume 8 Herbal Principles in Cosmetics: Properties and Mechanisms of Action, by Bruno Burlando, Luisella Verotta, Laura Cornara, and Elisa Bottini-Massa Volume 9 Figs: The Genus Ficus, by Ephraim Philip Lansky and Helena Maaria Paavilainen Volume 10 Phyllanthus Species: Scientific Evaluation and Medicinal Applications edited by Ramadasan Kuttan and K. B. Harikumar Volume 11 Honey in Traditional and Modern Medicine, edited by Laïd Boukraâ Volume 12 Caper: The Genus Capparis, Ephraim Philip Lansky, Helena Maaria Paavilainen, and Shifra Lansky Volume 13 Chamomile: Medicinal, Biochemical, and Agricultural Aspects, Moumita Das Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern Times Rhodiola rosea Edited by Alain Cuerrier Kwesi Ampong-Nyarko CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2015 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Version Date: 20141010 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4398-8841-4 (eBook - PDF) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. 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Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com Contents Foreword ..................................................................................................................vii Preface.......................................................................................................................xi Editors .................................................................................................................... xiii Contributors .............................................................................................................xv Chapter 1 Taxonomy of Rhodiola rosea L., with Special Attention to Molecular Analyses of Nunavik (Québec) Populations .......................1 Alain Cuerrier, Mariannick Archambault, Michel Rapinski, and Anne Bruneau Chapter 2 Ethnobotany and Conservation of Rhodiola Species ......................... 35 Alain Cuerrier, Youri Tendland, and Michel Rapinski Chapter 3 Phytochemistry of Rhodiola rosea .....................................................65 Fida Ahmed, Vicky Filion, Ammar Saleem, and John T. Arnason Chapter 4 Cultivation of Rhodiola rosea in Europe ...........................................87 Bertalan Galambosi Chapter 5 Rhodiola rosea Cultivation in Canada and Alaska ..........................125 Kwesi Ampong-Nyarko Chapter 6 Diseases of Wild and Cultivated Rhodiola rosea ............................ 155 Sheau-Fang Hwang, Stephen E. Strelkov, Kwesi Ampong- Nyarko, and Ron J. Howard Chapter 7 Biotechnology of Rhodiola rosea..................................................... 173 Zsuzsanna György Chapter 8 Pharmacological Activities of Rhodiola rosea ................................ 189 Fida Ahmed, Steffany A.L. Bennett, and John T. Arnason v vi Contents Chapter 9 Evidence-Based Efcacy and Effectiveness of Rhodiola SHR-5 Extract in Treating Stress- and Age-Associated Disorders ..............205 Alexander Panossian and Georg Wikman Chapter 10 Rhodiola rosea in Psychiatric and Medical Practice .......................225 Patricia L. Gerbarg, Petra A. Illig, and Richard P. Brown Chapter 11 Toxicology and Safety of Rhodiola rosea ........................................ 253 Hugh Semple and Brandie Bugiak Chapter 12 Commercialization of Rhodiola rosea .............................................265 Nav Sharma and Raimar Loebenberg Foreword In the late 1990s, I was invited to contribute an article to a mainstream medical jour- nal outlining the clinical relevance of various herbs and phytomedicines for which I believed there was ample published clinical trial data to warrant consideration for inclusion in modern evidence-based clinical practice. One of the herbs I suggested was Asian ginseng root (Panax ginseng), due to its increasingly documented immunological, “adaptogenic,” and other potentially salubrious properties. A peer reviewer of the draft article objected to the use of the term “adaptogen” and “adaptogenic,” stating that such terms were not recognized in modern (Western) pharmacology and medicine. When I attempted to explain their meaning and to defend their appropriate use in the context of my article, the journal editor, obviously siding with the reviewer and demonstrating his (and the reviewer’s) unfortunate lack of familiarity with modern botanical and phytomedicinal literature, threatened to reject my invited article. I had a choice: drop the word adaptogen to help ensure that my article might be published (there were, of course, other areas of concern raised by what were most likely unqualied peer reviewers), or stand up for adaptogens, both as an appropriate term and as a category of natural therapeutic agents. I chose the latter, and, predictably, my article was not accepted. During that time, more than 15 years ago, there was already a signicant increase in the use of herbal dietary supplements and other so-called alternative medicine modalities by millions of Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and others, and this movement was just beginning to gain attention from the mainstream medical com- munity. Of course, since then, the growth of the use of herbs in self-medication and in clinical practice has increased dramatically. In a sense, I have paid some personal and/or professional dues in trying to cham- pion the rational use of adaptogenic herbs and the language that describes them and their potential therapeutic benets. So, what is an adaptogen, and what is adaptogenic? In short, and as will be much more eloquently and technically described in Chapter 9 of this impressive book, adaptogens, as coined by Soviet pharmacologists in the late 1940s and early 1950s, are natural products (e.g., plants and plant extracts) that have the ability to safely sup- port an organism in adapting to various types of nonspecic stressors. There are a variety of herbs that are generally considered adaptogenic by knowl- edgeable experts. My focus at the time I was writing the above-mentioned, never- published article was Asian ginseng. Now, as I write this foreword, it is Rhodiola rosea root and its extracts. This is the second time I have had the honor to write a foreword to a book that is devoted exclusively to the herb, Rhodiola. In 2005, I produced the foreword to Rhodiola Revolution, a book written by psychiatrists Richard Brown, MD, and Pat Gerbarg, MD. This consumer-oriented book published by Rodale Press helped to pave the path for enhanced consumer and professional acceptance of R. rosea in the vii viii Foreword United States. (The book has the curious subtitle that was obviously a marketing effort by the publisher: “Transform Your Health with the Herbal Breakthrough of the 21st Century.”) I had become acquainted with Dick and Pat (and their coauthor, the late pharmacologist Zakir Ramazanov*)