09/09/2026
There's a real debate happening in the herbal world right now, and I'd love to know where other practitioners land on it.
India's FSSAI and Ministry of Ayush moved to restrict ashwagandha to root-only extracts, banning leaf use in supplements over safety concerns (leaves carry higher levels of a compound called Withaferin-A, with some studies flagging potential liver and neurotoxicity risk). Industry pushed back hard — a group of manufacturers challenged the ban, and India's Karnataka High Court granted them an interim stay while the case continues. So right now the legal status is genuinely unsettled, not resolved.
As someone formulating in this space, I keep coming back to the same question:
Should root-only become the standard practitioners look for when recommending or formulating with ashwagandha — or is the safety concern about leaf extracts overstated?
1. Root-only, always — the safety data on leaf extracts concerns me
2. Leaf has a place too — the ban looks overly cautious to me
3. Depends entirely on the extraction method and dose, not the plant part
4. Haven't looked into this closely enough to have a view yet
If you're a naturopath, nutritionist, or wellness practitioner with a view on this, I genuinely want to hear it in the comments. I'll share what I land on (and why) for Native Nutrients' own formulations next week.