Artichoke Extract: Benefits, Side Effects, Best Time to Take It & More

Artichoke Extract

(Cynara Scolymus, Cynarin)

Evidence: Reasonable
Possible Benefits: High
Safety: Very High

What is an artichoke extract?

Cynara scolymus, also known as artichoke, is a vegetable with a long history of use as a traditional medicine. Artichoke extract is often used as a supplement for improving heart health and cognition but it may have a wide variety of other beneficial effects. This article is about the main benefits of artichoke, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.

Possible benefits

All of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. As with other adaptogenic plants, there is a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get most of the benefits without causing meaningful side effects or tolerance buildup in the body. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.

Major benefits

Improved memory – Artichoke extracts may improve short-term memory and help with memory consolidation (transferring short-term memories to long-term memories). This supplement may also help with memory recall.

Minor benefits

Improved executive function – When paired with forskolin, artichoke can increase cAMP levels, which can increase attention, information processing, and memory.
Reduced LDL cholesterol – The reduction in LDL cholesterol levels is small but reliable. The same applies to total cholesterol as artichokes do not impact HDL levels much.
Improved digestion – At least one study shows that an artichoke extract can speed up gut movement while also providing some support for absorbing vitamins and overall fat digestion.
Liver-protective effects – Artichoke extracts can reduce liver enzymes and other markers associated with liver problems.
Improved blood flow – This benefit is also small and may be related to artichoke’s antioxidant effects. An artichoke extract may also reduce blood pressure because of the increase in blood flow.

Possible side effects

The side effects below are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.

Initial adverse reaction – When you start taking an artichoke extract, things can get worse before they get better. This vegetable can temporarily worsen some aspects of your health and even make you sick for a few days after you start taking it. This can be unpleasant but it is usually a sign that the supplement is working and creating a hormetic response that allows the body to adapt and become more resilient in the long term.
Allergic reaction – Some people are allergic to this vegetable and may experience an allergic reaction after they start taking it. Unlike the “initial adverse reaction,” allergic reactions typically don’t go away until one stops eating artichokes or taking extracts.
Nausea – This side effect is most common when people take an artichoke extract on an empty stomach.
Diarrhea – You can usually prevent diarrhea or stomach discomfort by taking this vegetable with a meal.
Toxicity – As an adaptogen, artichoke acts as a mild stressor on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, stressing the body too much can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking or eating very high amounts of this vegetable could lead to chronic toxicity and cause health problems over time. To prevent chronic toxicity or the buildup of tolerance, staying below 40 mg of cynarin or 20 grams of artichoke leaves a day is best unless you have a great reason to take more.
Contamination – If growing or storing conditions are not adequately controlled, artichokes can be contaminated with bacteria, molds, and other potentially harmful microorganisms. Some growers also use pesticides and herbicides that can be unsafe. Another issue is that artichoke extracts can get contaminated with other supplements and chemicals during the manufacturing process. Choose the brand you get artichoke supplements from wisely. It is often best to use websites like Amazon, where thousands of users have reviewed and rated the products. You are less likely to buy something of lower quality there.

Who should not take an artichoke extract?

You should probably avoid taking an artichoke extract if you:

are allergic to this vegetable
experience a severe adverse reaction after taking the extract (though a mild adverse reaction is usually a great thing as it is a sign that the supplement is working and causing a hormetic response that allows the body to adapt and become more resilient)
are pregnant or breastfeeding (while it can be safe to take this adaptogen during pregnancy or breastfeeding, it acts as a mild stressor and can cause some unnecessary risk to the child)
suffer from an autoimmune disease (adaptogenic vegetables can stimulate the immune system, which can worsen symptoms of autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or multiple sclerosis)

Who will benefit the most?

You should consider taking the supplement if you:

suffer from heartburn or bloating due to digestive issues
wish to improve your short-term memory and memory reconsolidation
have a high budget for supplements and are willing to experiment with a variety of them (artichoke extracts appear safe and are unlikely to do more harm than good for most people)

How much artichoke extract should you take?

Because artichoke is an adaptogenic vegetable, it acts as a mild hormetic stressor on the body, which allows your body to adapt and become more resilient to certain kinds of stressors in the long term.

A higher dose does not necessarily lead to more pronounced benefits. Instead, there appears to be an inverted U-shaped dose-response pattern. In other words, you want to find a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get the benefits of an artichoke extract without putting too much stress on the body or quickly causing the body to develop tolerance to the vegetable.

The sweet-spot dose typically ranges anywhere between 500-1000 mg of an average extract standardized for 4% of cynarin daily. In other words, it is best to get 20-40 mg of cynarin. This amount can be found in about 10-20 grams of dry artichoke leaves. If you buy an x:1 extract, divide the dry vegetable dosage by x.

The higher end of this range usually provides slightly more benefits in the short term. If you plan to take this vegetable for a longer time (multiple months or years), the lower end is probably a better way to go since you would develop tolerance faster if you were to take higher doses.

While higher doses are generally safe, taking more than the sweet-spot dose daily would be counter-productive as your body would quickly develop tolerance.

Additionally, very high doses can put too much stress on your system and cause health problems if you take the supplement for a prolonged period.

While this vegetable could theoretically cause acute toxicity, you would need to take an extremely high dose that is way beyond what is generally found in even the most potent supplements.

Like with most other adaptogens, it is best to cycle an artichoke extract and take about 2 days off weekly to reset your tolerance. This will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

Keep in mind that the effects of this plant are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice most of the benefits. But again, cycling the supplement and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.

Best time to take an artichoke extract

You can take or eat artichokes with or without food. Each of these options has its benefits. The main bioactive compounds in the vegetable should absorb well either way.

If you experience nausea or stomach discomfort when you take this plant, taking it with food should prevent these unpleasant effects or at least make them less intense.

If you take an artichoke extract on an empty stomach, the short-term effects will kick in faster and they will be more pronounced but will not last as long.

Whether you take this vegetable in the morning or the evening typically does not make much difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.

Interactions

Forskolin
When paired with forskolin, artichoke can increase cAMP levels, which can increase attention, information processing, and memory.
Ginger
This combination may work synergistically for digestive support.

Where to buy an artichoke extract?

Amazon is the best option for ordering artichoke extracts in most countries. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.

Some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.

FAQ

As with most other adaptogenic vegetables and vegetable supplements, it is best to cycle an artichoke extract and stay off of it for about 2 days per week to reset your tolerance back to baseline. This will keep your body sensitive to the vegetable and allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

When you take an extract standardized for cynarin, you know exactly how potent it is and how much you need to take to get the desired outcome. Vegetable extracts also tend to be cheaper than unextracted powders in many cases. However, many of the potentially beneficial compounds get lost during the extraction process. Therefore, if you know how potent the unextracted powder is, it is almost always a better option.

All of these options are fine. The two most important things to consider are the price and dosing. Powders are almost always the cheapest form. However, you may need a highly accurate scale to dose them correctly (preferably 0.001g). You can get one for as little as $20 from Amazon. Dosing the powders also takes some time that can add up over months or years. The disadvantage of capsules is that they are often made of bovine gelatine, which rarely comes from ethical sources.

Yes, you can. This vegetable should not impact your sleep in any negative way. Whether you take it in the morning or the evening typically doesn’t make much of a difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.

This supplement should not become harmful once it exceeds the expiration date but it can lose potency over time. Keep the extract in a cold, dark, and dry place, and it should remain just as potent for many months or even years.

As an adaptogen, artichoke acts as a mild stressor on the body. This is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, putting too much stress on the body can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking very high amounts of this vegetable could lead to chronic toxicity and cause health problems over time. Very high doses can also make you develop tolerance much faster than lower doses so they may be less effective in the long term.

While you could safely take higher doses, there is usually no point in taking more than 40 mg of cynarin or 20 grams of artichoke leaves daily. This amount should give you most of the benefits without meaningful side effects. Paradoxically, taking a higher dose would likely lead to fewer benefits as the body would quickly become accustomed to the vegetable.

The half-life of artichoke in the body is about 24 hours. This vegetable should be processed in your body within a few days after consuming it.

The effects of this vegetable are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice most of the benefits. But again, cycling the supplement and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.

Yes, artichoke extracts are vegan-friendly. If you buy this supplement in a capsulated form, beware that the capsules often contain animal-based gelatin. Instead, find a brand that puts its products into cellulose capsules.

No, it doesn’t. The supplement does not interfere with fasting in any significant way. However, an artichoke itself may break a fast because of its carbohydrate content.

References

Most of the information in this guide is based on scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything you read in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.

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