Ashwagandha is not related to Panax ginseng. The term "Indian ginseng" is an informal description.

As far as is known, it has no significant effect on blood pressure. In fact, it cannot be claimed that it lowers blood pressure. The correct term for such natural products is that they can help to normalise blood pressure. This is in contrast to medications that actually lower blood pressure and can therefore be dangerous as they may lower it too much. This is not the case with these herbs. Therefore, everyone can use Ashwagandha, including those with normal or low blood pressure.

In an extract, as many non-active components as possible are removed, such as fibres and fats. In the unprocessed herb (like root powder), only the water has been removed. An extract is therefore more concentrated: it contains a higher percentage of active ingredients. 

In a standardised extract, each capsule also contains a fixed amount. This is not the case for this Ashwagandha from Holisan, but it is for example the Ashwagandha from Vitaminhealth, which guarantees 21 mg of withanolides per capsule.

Sometimes a product contains not only an extract but also the unprocessed root powder. This is done to achieve a composition that resembles the original herb more closely. An example of this is the Ashwagandha Root Extract. This contains an extract with 4.5 mg of withanolides and is supplemented with 100 mg of unprocessed root powder (which contains an unknown amount of withanolides).

Powder from the whole root typically contains an unknown quantity of withanolides. Therefore, it is not possible to indicate how potent the product is. Comparisons with standardised products are also not possible.

Our advice is to use a standardised extract (with or without root powder) so that you know exactly how many withanolides you are consuming.