02:13 PM CST on Thursday, February 17, 2005

Meg Farris / Medical Reporter

There's a buzz in the medical community over an herb from the mountains of Siberia called Rhodiola.

The herb Rhodiola can be purchased at most health food stores.

Studies show the drug could be linked to a long list of health benefits and Dr. Henri Roca, the chief of integrative medicine at the LSU Health Sciences Center is a believer.

"This truly is a remarkable herb because we've done a lot of research on this relative to high stress activities including: physicians with late night work hours, students under the stress of taking tests, high performance athletes and in all cases it shows that performance - whether it's muscular or whether it is mental, actually improves and endurance increases," he said.

Among the benefits that research claims might come from Rhodiola are: Enhancing exercise performance and endurance, enhancing memory before test taking, protecting cells from cancer causing agents, reducing stress, preventing some heart problems, reducing inflammation, fighting altitude sickness, making chemotherapy drugs more effective, reducing fatigue and bringing your mind back into balance.

When it comes to weight loss, doctors say it can reduce the stress hormone in the blood, which is called cortisol and it can work as an anti-depressant for people who feel compulsive about overeating. It also has shown to have some appetite suppressant qualities.

"It's amazing," said Roca. "And, we have the data to support it."

Dr. Roca said there might be a potential for problems if you take Rhodiola in conjunction with ssri antidepressants, migraine medicines, antihistamines, alcohol, aged cheese, MSG and glutamine.

And people with suspected bi-polar disease should not take it at all.

Dr. Roca also says it works best if taken for several days or a couple of weeks and then stopped for a week or so.

He says that no herbal supplement should be taken on a regular basis. But doctors say as more studies come in from Russia, this is an herb we can watch to see if it proves to be a safe weight loss supplement.