Understanding adaptogenic activity: specificity of the pharmacological action of adaptogens and other phytochemicals

Adaptogens are stress‐response modifiers that increase an organism's nonspecific resistance to stress by increasing its ability to adapt and survive. The classical reductionist model is insufficiently complex to explain the mechanistic aspects of the physiological notion of “adaptability” and the adaptogenic activity of adaptogens. Here, I demonstrate that (1) the mechanisms of action of adaptogens are impossible to rationally describe using the...