Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Natural supplement "Rhodiola"

Does anybody have any experience with this thing?
It was highly recomended to me at the Natural food store. Thats what a labal says on the back:

"Rhodiola mosea, known as Arctic root in Asia, is an exalted herbal stress "adaptogen". Thriving in high altitudesand in naatures most challenging climates, this most resilient herbal is intensively studied for inhancing concentration and indurance, uplifting one's mental state and supporting optimalimmune, adrenal and cardiovascular function under conditions of severe stress..."

Thanks for any info or oppinion.

Since the FDA cannot regulate the claims on food supplements like this, you can't believe anything that you read on the labels. The health food store may recommend it highly, but they have an obvious economic conflict of interest. Since there have been no real clinical trials that I can find on Rhodiola, it is all folklore (doesn't mean that it can't work, just that it hasn't met the burden of proof that we require in the US for medical claims).

If you are looking for a food supplement that could help you with climbing, you should look at Ginkgo biloba. In contrast to Rhodiola, there have been a real clinical trial of ginkgo reported in the medical literature the shows it helps with AMS.

I am guessing you will take that herb to ward off Acute Altitude Sickness. Altitude sickness is what I got on my first attempt at Whitney, a mile from the top. I was bummed. Crushed really.

I did a little nutritional research notably by my favorite nutritionist Adelle Davis in her book Let's Get Well. Here she talks about a guy who tried climbing a mountain on an empty stomach. In a nut shell he thought he was having a heart attack which is exactly how I felt part of the time. Turns out this guy had nothing for breakfast like me. To be honest I was a little nervous being my first attempt and I didn't get much sleep either.

Adelle says basically you need a high protein breakfast with some carbs, some sugar and some oil. This will help you maintain an even blood sugar level throughout the morning. It seemed to make a huge difference with me as I used this advice the following week ( My breakfast was a turkey sandwich with cabbage, swiss chard,and carrots, with mayonaise on sprouted whole grain bread and some oj.) and summitted in 6 hours. I also had some vitamin b-12 spray for under my tongue and drank a Red Bull at the approx place I bonked the previous week. Of course,I consumed plenty of water also.

Hopes this helps.

Here is some real data from a legimate clinical study:

More work is being done in the use of herbal preparations to prevent AMS. In a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study study, 40 volunteers who lived at 1400m (4,597 ft) were taken rapidly to 4300m (14,110 ft) and spent the night. Compared to those taking placebo, subjects taking ginko had half the incidence of AMS symptoms, and those on ginko who did become ill had far milder symptoms.
Protocol: ginko biloba 120 mg orally twice a day, starting 5 days prior to the ascent, and continuing at altitude.
Results: AMS defined as ESQ-III score > 0.7 and Lake Louise Score > 3
Subjects with AMS: 7 of 21 on ginko vs. 13 of 19 on placebo
Mean Lake Louise Scores 3.9±0.6 on ginko vs. 6.2±0.9 on placebo; mean ESQ-III scores 0.77±0.20 on ginko vs. 1.59±0.32 on placebo
Conclusion: Ginko biloba was effective at preventing AMS symptoms.

References
Maakestad K, Leadbetter G, Olson S, Hackett P. Ginko biloba reduces incidence and severity of acute mountain sickness.(Abstract) Proceedings Wilderness Medical Society Summer Conference, Park City, Utah. August 9-12, 2000.

14,110 feet? Sounds like they were taken to the top of Pike's Peak!