10/05/2026
Getting ready to harvest ashwagandha!
A recent randomised, double blind trial reported promising results for ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) in childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Fifty-eight children aged 6 to 12 years, described as having mild ADHD, received ashwagandha or placebo for eight weeks while taking no other ADHD medication. The mean ADHD Rating Scale score fell from 45.8 to 29.0 in the ashwagandha group, compared with 45.2 to 44.9 in the placebo group: a highly significant 16.5-point difference. Parent-rated executive function, sleep disturbance and anxiety also improved. The size of the reported benefit is striking, although a baseline score of about 45 on a 54-point scale is difficult to reconcile with the description of “mild” ADHD.
The active treatment was an ashwagandha root extract given in gummies at 150 mg twice daily (300 mg/day). This aqueous extract was standardised to approximately 5% withanolides, giving a nominal 15 mg of total withanolides daily. The paper did not provide an extract-to-root ratio, so its dried-root equivalent cannot be calculated reliably, although it is probably in the order of 3 to 5 g/day.
The heavy reliance on parent-derived ratings, together with virtually no improvement in the placebo group, raises questions about expectancy bias and the effectiveness of blinding. Independent teacher ratings would have strengthened the findings.
From a Functional Herbal Therapy perspective, ashwagandha is particularly indicated when ADHD occurs alongside poor stress tolerance, disturbed sleep, anxiety or difficulty with emotional regulation. It offers a way to support this broader pattern of dysregulation alongside attention and behaviour. The trial provides further grounds for its use, but its short duration and some arithmetic inconsistencies in the results tables make independent replication important.
For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42602386/
