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Adaptogens or adaptogenic substances, compounds, herbs〔http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adaptogen〕 or practices refer to the pharmacological concept〔 whereby administration results in stabilization of physiological processes and promotion of homeostasis, an example being by decreased cellular sensitivity to stress. The European Medicines Agency states in a 2008 reflection paper that the concept requires additional clinical and pre-clinical research, and is therefore not accepted into canonized terminology.〔EMEA/HMPC/102655/2007. (Reflection Paper on the Adaptogenic Concept ). European Medicines Agency, London, 8 May 2008.〕 Normally pharmacological theory abides by the receptor theory of drug mechanism,〔T. Kenakin (2004) Principles: Receptor theory in pharmacology ''Trends Pharmacol Sci'' Vol 25 No.4〕 and the scientific community calls into question the validity of the concept of adaptogens, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency accept the phenomena theoretically.〔 In herbal medicine the categorization of different herbs as adaptogens is very popular, often with far-reaching claims of increasing longevity, libido and well-being. Most of the studies conducted on adaptogens were performed in the Soviet Union, Korea, and China during the 1980s, and are at large not considered conclusive, having been criticized for various methodological flaws. Adaptogens have been claimed to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, from fatigue to cancer. However, no herbs that have been presented as adaptogens to the U.S. FDA have ever been conclusively shown to be effective in treating medical conditions, and as a result none of them are approved by the FDA to cure, treat, or prevent disease. Adaptogenic effect of some herbs may hold certain merit on account of substances increasing the body's own response to oxidative stress, such as Gynostemma pentaphyllum or ''poor-mans ginseng'' which has been shown to increase the body's innate response by increased production of superoxide dismutase (SOD). ==History== The concept of adaptogens was originally created by pharmacologist N.V. Lazarev in 1947 to describe novel effects of dibazol 12-benzyl benzimidazol, an arterial dilator developed in France.〔 Adaptogenesis was later (in the former Soviet Union) applied to describe remedies that increase the resistance of organisms to biological stress in experimental and clinical studies.〔 According to the original definition, adaptogens are: non-specific remedies ''"that increase resistance to a broad spectrum of harmful factors (stressors) of different physical, chemical and biological natures"''.〔 This definition has been updated and today adaptogens are conceptualized as a: "new class of metabolic regulators (of a natural origin) which increase the ability of an organism to adapt to environmental factors and to avoid damage from such factors."〔 An extensive amount of research was conducted in the USSR, (by 1984, more than 1,500 pharmacological and clinical published studies),.〔 Adaptogens have even been described as "medicine() for healthy people".〔 In 1998, however, the term adaptogen was allowed as a functional claim for certain products by US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency claims "The concept of adaptogens is sufficient to be considered in the assessment of traditional herbal medicinal products (e.g., monograph on Eleutheroccocus root〔)." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「adaptogen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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