What Are “Adaptogens” Anyway? (And Other Questions Answered)

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small

❝I tried to use your calculator for heart health, and was unable to enter in my height or weight. Is there another way to calculate? Why will that field not populate?❞

(this is in reference to yesterday’s main feature “How Are You, Really? And How Old Is Your Heart?“)

How strange! We tested it in several desktop browsers and several mobile browsers, and were unable to find any version that didn’t work. That includes switching between metric and imperial units, per preference; both appear to work fine. Do be aware that it’ll only take numerical imput, though.

Did anyone else have this problem? Let us know! (You can reply to this email, or use the handy feedback widget at the bototm)

❝I may have missed it, but how much black pepper provides benefits?❞

So, for any new subscribers joining us today, this is about two recent main features:

• Black Pepper’s Impressive Anti-Cancer Arsenal
• Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits?

As for a daily dosage of black pepper, it varies depending on the benefit you’re looking for, but:

• 5–20mg of piperine is the dosage range used in most scientific studies we looked at
• 10mg is a very common dosage found in many popular supplements
• That’s the mass of piperine though, so if taking it as actual black pepper rather than as an extract, ½ teaspoon is considered sufficient to enjoy benefits.

❝I loved the health benefits of pepper. I do not like pepper. Where can I get it as a supplement?❞

You can simply buy whole black peppercorns and take a few with water as though they were tablets. Your stomach acid will do the rest. Black pepper is also good for digestion, so taking it with a meal is best.

You can buy piperine (black pepper extract) by itself as a supplement in powder form, but if you don’t like black pepper, you will probably not like this powder either. We couldn’t find it readily in capsule form.

You can buy piperine (black pepper extract) as an adjunct to other supplements, with perhaps the most common/popular being turmeric capsules that also contain 10mg (or more) piperine per capsule. Shop around if you like, but here’s one that has 15mg piperine* per capsule, for example.

*They call it “Bioperine®” but that is literally just piperine. Same goes if you see “Absorbagen™”, it’s still just piperine.

❝What do you mean when you say that something is adaptogenic?❞

Simple version: it means it helps the body adapt to stress, by adjusting the body’s natural responses. Thus, adaptogenic supplements can be contrasted with tranquilizing drugs that mask stress by brute force, for example.

Technical version: adaptogenic activity refers to improving physiological stress resilience, such as by moderating and modulating hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis signaling, and/or by regulating levels of endogenic compounds involved in the cellular stress response.

Read more (technical version):

Effects of Adaptogens on the Central Nervous System and the Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Their Stress-Protective Activity

Read more (simple version):

European Medicines Agency’s Reflection Paper On The Adaptogenic Concept

Enjoy!