Treat Depression - The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of standardized extract SHR-5 of rhizomes of Rhodiola rosea L. in patients suffering from a current episode of mild/moderate depression.

For individuals in groups A and B, overall depression, together with insomnia, emotional instability and somatization, but not self-esteem, improved significantly following medication, whilst the placebo group did not show such improvements.

It is concluded that the standardized extract SHR-5 shows anti-depressive potency in patients with mild to moderate depression when administered in dosages of either 340 or 680 mg/day over a 6-week period.

(Article)

Chemoprevention - Rhodiola rosea, growing in high altitude or cold regions of the world, has been reported to have anti‐aging effects in Drosophila.

We demonstrated that a R. rosea extract and one of its bioactive components, salidroside, inhibited the growth of bladder cancer cell lines with a minimal effect on nonmalignant bladder epithelial cells TEU‐2.

These results indicate that the R. rosea extract and salidroside inhibit translation initiation. Furthermore, both the R. rosea extract and salidroside treatment of UMUC3 cells caused a significant percentage of cells undergoing autophagy.

Therefore, the R. rosea extract and salidroside deserve further study as novel agents for chemoprevention of bladder carcinogenesis.

(Article)

Rhodiola rosea extracts and salidroside can impose cellular and systemic benefits similar to the effect of positive lifestyle interventions to normal physiological functions and for anti-cancer.

The unique pharmacological properties of Rhodiola rosea extracts or salidroside deserve further investigation for cancer chemoprevention, in particular for human urinary bladder cancer.