{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T04:51:58Z","timestamp":1791348718563,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Physiol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Plants of the genus\n                      <jats:italic>Rhodiola<\/jats:italic>\n                      (including\n                      <jats:italic>R. rosea<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>R. crenulata<\/jats:italic>\n                      ) is purported to enhance antioxidant capacity and altitude adaptation, yet clinical evidence remains conflicting. This meta-analysis evaluates its effects on systemic antioxidant markers and altitude adaptation outcomes in healthy adults.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Nine Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs, n=424) were identified from PubMed, Cochrane, Medline, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Primary outcomes included maximal oxygen uptake (VO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      max), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and acute mountain sickness (AMS) incidence. Data were pooled using RevMan 5.4 with random\/fixed-effects models.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      R. rosea significantly increased TAC (P=0.02) and showed a trend toward reducing TBARS levels (P=0.06), indicating enhanced systemic antioxidant capacity. However, it showed no significant effect on VO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      max (95% CI: -0.91 to 2.99; P=0.30) or MDA levels (P=0.07). Crucially, R. rosea did not prevent AMS (OR=1.02, 95% CI: 0.69\u20131.52) but mitigated some symptoms of high-altitude deacclimatization (P&amp;lt;0.05).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Extracts of Rhodiola species significantly improves systemic antioxidant status and may alleviate high-altitude de-adaptation symptoms. However, current evidence does not support its efficacy for improving VO\n                      <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                      max, reducing MDA levels, or preventing AMS. These uncertainties likely stem from heterogeneous study designs, sample sizes, variable dosing, and inconsistent intervention durations.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Systematic review registration<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:ext-link>https:\/\/www.crd.york.ac.uk\/PROSPERO\/view\/CRD420251004228<\/jats:ext-link>\n                      , identifier CRD420251004228.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2026.1908897","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T04:47:59Z","timestamp":1791348479000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Antioxidant but not ergogenic or altitude-protective: a meta-analysis of Rhodiola species in healthy adults"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Jie","family":"Mou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jingxian","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lingting","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Junxian","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongyu","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Medicine, Southwest Jiaotong University","place":["Chengdu, China"]},{"name":"Center for Animal Experimentation, Clinical Biobank, and Bioinformatics, The General Hospital of Western Theater Command","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","first-page":"243","article-title":"Rhodiola rosea as antioxidant in red blood cells: ultrastructural and hemolytic behaviour","volume":"49","author":"Battistelli","year":"2005","journal-title":"Eur. 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