Study Highlights Balanced Cortisol and Cognitive Benefits for Women

Speaking at SupplySide Connect New Jersey, Keely Johnson, VP of sales and marketing at Arjuna Natural, outlined new clinical research on Shoden, a standardized ashwagandha extract. The company recently completed its first all-female study, focusing on women ages 30 to 59, to better understand how the ingredient affects stress, sleep, mood, and cognitive performance.

While ashwagandha has long been associated with stress and sleep support, Johnson emphasized that deeper analysis of the plant’s molecular composition reveals broader physiological effects. A key focus of the study was cortisol, particularly the cortisol awakening response (CAR), which naturally spikes within 30 minutes of waking to help energize the body. Contrary to concerns that lowering cortisol is always beneficial, Johnson noted that maintaining a healthy cortisol rhythm is critical.

The study found that Shoden did not interfere with the natural cortisol spike upon waking but instead helped balance cortisol levels throughout the rest of the day. This distinction is important, as chronically elevated cortisol beyond the morning peak is associated with stress-related issues. By supporting balanced cortisol levels rather than suppressing them, Shoden may help improve focus, reduce brain fog, and support circadian rhythms.

Johnson also highlighted Shoden’s pharmacokinetics, noting that its effects last up to 24 hours, compared to other ashwagandha extracts that may taper off after several hours. This extended activity is attributed to its high standardization—35% withanolide glycosides—which enhances bioavailability and consistency.

Additionally, Arjuna Natural introduced Shoden-R, a root-only version of the ingredient that maintains the same efficacy while offering a neutral taste and smell. Overall, the research underscores Shoden’s potential as a daily supplement for managing stress and supporting cognitive and hormonal health in women.

A transcript of her conversation can be found below.

Nicholas Saraceno: Ladies and gentlemen, we are live from SupplySide Connect New Jersey. I'm Nico Saraceno, senior editor of Nutritional Outlook magazine, and I'm joined by Keely Johnson. She is the VP of sales and marketing at Arjuna Natural. Keely, thank you so much for taking the time today.

Keely Johnson: Absolutely, thanks for having me.

Saraceno: Of course, I know the show's winding down and there's a lot of a lot of scrambling going on, so I appreciate it. It’s been a very beneficial show. I think it was great, very intimate, a lot of time to catch up with folks and things of that nature. So let’s dive right in, because there's a lot to get into.

I think the first one is, you guys recently conducted an all-female clinical study on Shoden, which evaluated outcomes, including cortisol awakening response sleep stress along with cognitive performance. I was curious if you could elaborate on the significance of all those findings that you guys determined—particularly when it comes to addressing stress and hormonal changes in women age 30 to 59—because I think it's very noteworthy for our audience to know.

Johnson: Couple things. I mean, ashwagandha has been around for so long. Most people know that it's great for stress, anxiety, sleep, those kinds of things. But the more that you actually do look at the molecular chemistry of the plant, you see that it can affect the body in a lot of different ways. We’ve had Shoden at Arjuna for many years. We just launched our Shoden-R which is our root-only product.

Our latest study that's being published right now was done on women only, and it was our first (in the company-wide), women's only study. For us there, it's pretty monumental, for a couple reasons. We did the age group from 30 to 59 as you said, and it shows us a big range. But then we also threw in a couple more parameters to look into, other than our classic sleep, stress, anxiety claims. What we looked at was, on the women's side, our cortisol awakening response, our energy and focus, and of course, mood. But then also we did the sleep, we did the stress, all of that.

A couple of things that we found to be worth diving into deeper, which is promoting us into our next study that's happening right now was our cortisol awakening response. Now, everybody thinks that cortisol is this horrible thing, right? It's our stress hormone. It's actually the one of the most important things in life, and the reason why that is is because it gets us to move. It gets us to rock and roll. If we don't have cortisol, we are still sleeping. The cortisol awakening response, also known as CAR, happens within 30 minutes of waking.

This is one of the reasons why you're not supposed to have caffeine the first 30 minutes of waking, because we spike our cortisol. When we wake up in the morning, it goes straight up in the first 30 minutes, but then it should peak, and then it should come down naturally. The problem is that most people's just continue to go up. We wanted to see specifically with Shodan, what happened with the cortisol awakening response, and then what happened the rest of the day.

In our pharmacokinetic study that was done many moons ago, we showed that Shodan, unlike other ashwagandhas that drop out after like six or seven hours of being in the body, this one lasts for 24 hours. We wanted to see what was the cycle of the cortisol. The great thing is, it didn't touch the cortisol awakening response. It didn't move that, which is important to get us out of bed. But what we did show was the rest of the hours of the day, it balanced cortisol. It’s not diminishing it. It's not taking it out of our lives. It's balancing it. So that was our huge, fundamental, the excitability around Shodan, where we can take it a little further. On that side, you know, we've got focus, brain fog, we've got a lot of other things that are, of course, still associated to the brain and energy, and then your sleep and circadian rhythms actually.

Saraceno: I feel like it's very relatable too, because I know a lot of us are wearing these wearables, and they track our stress levels. I know, for me, I'm questioning is like, why is my stress level so high right now? According to the technology, it’s rising, and it's a way to maybe level that off. Very useful for sure.

Johnson: I always say to people—because I've been using ashwagandha for 20 years—but in our fast-paced world and everything that we have to deal with and how fast we have to pivot in a day, ashwagandha is one of those things that you can use at any point in your lifetime. It doesn't have to be just for sleep. It doesn't have to be for these certain times in your life. It can be used every day to support the body. And I think that that's why it's been used in Ayurvedic medicine for 5000 years.

Saraceno: Yeah, 100%. It might go under recognized or under appreciated. I think you could definitely make that argument.

Johnson: I can also state too, that not all, not all ashwagandhas are created equal. There's very big differences from branded to generic, and what it does for the body.

Saraceno: You’re talking about Shoden. It's standard, standardized to 35% withanolide glycosides, which, as you said, not all ashwagandha is created equal. In this case, it differs from other extracts standardized to lower amounts. So I was curious, how does this difference and distinction impact bioavailability, stability, overall efficiency, when compared to other ashwagandha ingredients?

Johnson: Oh, absolutely. Our ashwagandha, both Shoden and Shoden-R are standardized to 35%, so the important part here is not just the 35%, it's the glyco withanolide, withanolide glycoside, however you want to say it. Long story short, this is what makes Shoden stay in the body for 24 hours. It's a specific part of the plant that is the most bioavailable. When you look at Shoden compared to anyone else, you've got such a standardization that is going to support the body for a longer period of time, more consistently. There’s so many things that go into our health and how we absorb thing, but this is super important when we're looking at something that we can utilize on the daily.

Saraceno: The science is always very fascinating.

Johnson: That was a big concern when we brought out Shoden-R, was we wanted to make sure that we had that same standardization with this product and Shoden-R I might add as well, is there's no significant difference within Shoden and Shoden-R in our studies, zero difference, however, Shoden-R is our root-only product, and what's really cool about Shoden-R is that it has zero taste and zero smell.

This is amazing for today's world and where we're at right now with innovation, because we're seeing chews, gummies, and RTDs and all these different ways to use the product. This one is easy to use. You don't have to mask it. Ashwagandha in itself is a very bitter it's a very bitter molecule, and this kind of takes out that foolproof, systematic way of just being able to utilize it in any way, shape, or form.