Ultimate Ashwagandha Powder

Choosing the traditional form is a perfectly good reason to buy a herb, though it does change what you can know about your dose. These are the questions our naturopaths ask in store, and they apply to every form of ashwagandha.

A good fit if

• You're an adult looking for traditional herbal support through a stretch of everyday stress
• You value the traditional Ayurvedic preparation and the ritual of making it, and you're not trying to match a trial dose
• Your health history is straightforward: no liver, thyroid or autoimmune concerns, and no prescription medicines
• You're buying from a supplier who batch-tests for heavy metals and says so on the pack
• You accept that a raw powder can't tell you its withanolide content, and you're comfortable with that

Check with us first if

• You have a thyroid condition or take thyroid hormone such as levothyroxine. Ashwagandha may change thyroid hormone levels, and there are reports of an overactive thyroid settling after people stopped it.
• You take immunosuppressant medicines. This is a known possible interaction, so don't combine them without medical advice.
• You take sedatives, anticonvulsants or anything else that makes you drowsy. Ashwagandha can cause drowsiness too, and the effects may add up.
• You take diabetes or blood pressure medicines. The effects may add up, so monitoring is advised.
• You take any prescription medicine. A quick check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths first is the sensible step.
• You're switching from a standardised extract to powder, or the other way. A spoon of powder and a milligram of extract aren't comparable, and the conversion is where people go wrong.
• You're buying loose powder from an overseas website or market. Those products aren't regulated by the TGA for quality and safety, and testing of Ayurvedic products bought online has repeatedly found toxic metals.
• You have a sensitive stomach. You take a much larger amount of powder than you would capsules, so it's more likely to upset your digestion.

• Whole root powder (churna). Best known for: The traditional Ayurvedic preparation. The whole root, milled and nothing else. Absorption: Unconcentrated. Withanolides are present at whatever level the raw root carried, and that level is not measured or declared. Typical use: A quarter-teaspoon to two teaspoons daily, stirred into warm milk, water, a smoothie or food.
• Cut or whole dried root pieces. Best known for: The rawest form sold. Root you simmer yourself as a decoction or tea. Absorption: Depends on how long you simmer it and how much you drink, so it is the least reproducible preparation of all. Typical use: Simmered in water or milk, often with spices; measured by handful rather than by weight.
• Root powder in capsules. Best known for: Churna without the taste. The same unconcentrated material in a swallowable dose. Absorption: Identical to loose powder; capsules simply divide it into fixed weights you can count. Typical use: Several capsules a day to reach a spoon-sized amount of root, so packs empty quickly.
• Extract powder sold loose (the look-alike). Best known for: Looking exactly like churna in the jar while being a concentrated extract. Absorption: Concentrated, and usually standardised. A declared withanolide percentage on the pack is the giveaway. Typical use: Small scoops, not spoons. Dosing it like churna would deliver many times the intended amount.
• Leaf-containing or whole-herb powders. Best known for: Cheaper plant material that includes aerial parts rather than root alone. Absorption: Leaf carries a different phytochemical profile from root, so it is not a substitute at any weight. Typical use: Uncommon on Australian labels; check that the pack names the root specifically.

Reference values. None. Ashwagandha is a herb, not an essential nutrient, so the NHMRC sets no recommended intake for it. There's no European guidance to fall back on either: Europe's herbal medicines committee reviewed Withania somnifera root but didn't adopt an official monograph, so there's no official European dose.

Typical supplemental range. The Australian powder labels in our range suggest between a quarter of a teaspoon and two teaspoons a day, taken once or twice, and none of them state a withanolide amount. A teaspoon measures volume, not weight, and there's no official conversion from teaspoons to grams for milled root. So if the pack gives a dose in grams, that's the number to go by.

Upper level. There's no NHMRC upper limit. The 12 g dry root equivalent figure in Australia's ingredient rules is part of a labelling exemption, not a safety limit, and as the Australian status section explains, that exemption can't apply to a powder anyway.

Worth knowing. Do the maths before you switch forms. Australian standardised extract products say 600 mg of extract equals about 7.5 g of dry root, so matching that with churna means several teaspoons of powder, not the quarter teaspoon many labels start at. Ashwagandha isn't part of the everyday Australian diet, so there's no dietary intake to compare against, and safety beyond about three months hasn't been established for any form. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Pregnancy and considering pregnancy. Avoid; NCCIH advises avoiding ashwagandha. A powder cannot meet the item 5218 extract-only exemption conditions.
• Breastfeeding. Avoid; safety has not been established (NCCIH).
• Existing or previous liver problems. Avoid as a precaution; rare liver injury is documented for ashwagandha (NIH LiverTox).
• Jaundice, dark urine, nausea, vomiting, unusual tiredness, abdominal pain or loss of appetite. Stop and seek medical advice promptly.
• Sudden nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea after only one or two doses. Stop and seek advice.
• Thyroid conditions, or thyroid hormone such as levothyroxine. May alter thyroid hormone levels; thyrotoxicosis case reports.
• Autoimmune conditions. NCCIH advises against use.
• Immunosuppressant medicines. Recognised potential interaction.
• Sedatives, anticonvulsants and other drowsiness-causing medicines. Additive drowsiness.
• Diabetes and blood pressure medicines. Possible additive effects; monitoring advised.
• Planned surgery. NCCIH advises against use beforehand.
• Hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. NCCIH advises avoiding.
• Children and adolescents. Australian labels commonly state not suitable under 15.
• Unknown potency. Raw root carries no declared withanolide content, so the dose cannot be verified from the pack.
• Heavy metal contamination. 20.7% of 193 internet-purchased Ayurvedic products contained detectable lead, mercury or arsenic, and 75% of those products claimed good manufacturing practice.
• Switching between powder and standardised extract. The two are not equivalent by weight and the conversion is easily misjudged.
• Long-term use. Long-term safety beyond about three months is not established.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.