Ashwagandha is a herb that belongs to the night shade family of plants. The nightshade family of plants is a very interesting one and includes a lot of vegetables that make up large parts of many diets. Notable nightshade members are potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, goji berries and even tobacco! Another name for the nightshade family is Solanaceae. This is where Ashwagandha gets its Latin name from; Withania somnifera. Ashwagandha is a short perennial shrub, with a large root system that develops small deep orange fruits. The fruits resemble a small cherry and the leaves look frosty due to the many tiny hairs that are on them. This one of the reasons why Ashwagandha is also referred to as ‘winter cherry’. Traditionally, the Ashwagandha root is used, however new research has found high concentrations of key components in the leaves too. Various manufacturers have taken notice of this. One of the most notable being Natreon who produce a specialized extract of Ashwagandha called Sensoril. Sensoril is made from the leaves of Ashwagandha, giving it a unique chemical composition, which produces noticeable calming effects.

This means that C3G can help bodybuilders enhance the efficacy of their cutting phase, allowing them to get much leaner while maintaining the muscle mass they have been working so hard at achieving. Of course, this effects profile is pretty much every bodybuilders dream! It is then no surprise that C3G took the bodybuilding world by storm, and nowadays it is regarded as one of, if not the best, natural body recomposition tools!

For example C3G can inhibit monoamine oxidase enzymes which boosts dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin levels, while simultaneously working hand in hand with brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to dial in neuroplasticity. Combine this with the cerebral blood flow enhancement effects of C3G, and you are looking at a very serious nootropic! Overall, it is clear that C3G is a purple force to be reckoned with!

C3G belongs to a class of compounds called the anthocyanins. These are a class of purple and red pigments, which exist in a wide variety of foods and beverages. The anthocyanins are all glycosides, which means that they have a core structure that is then linked to a particular type of sugar. For example, with cyanidin 3-glucoside, as the name already reveals, cyanidin is bound to glucose. Another example would be the primary anthocyanin present in our tart cherry extract, which is cyanidin 3-rutinoside. There are also anthocyanins which have a different core compound to which sugar groups are bound. For example, malvidin glycosides are also a common group of anthocyanins.

A very fascinating aspect of anthocyanins is that they also change color in response to changes in pH! This means that anthocyanins basically act as environmentally friendly pH meters, and in fact, they are even used in this manner sometimes.

When you add some vinegar, this color quickly transitions into a bright red color! When the anthocyanins lose their sugar groups, we refer to them as anthocyanidins. When we consume anthocyanins, enzymes in our bodies, such as beta-glucosidase, rip off the sugar groups, and turn anthocyanins into anthocyanidins. This means that when we are investigating the effects of cyanidin 3-glucoside, the majority of the benefits are coming from cyanidin, the anthocyanidin, rather than cyanidin 3-glucoside, the anthocyanin. However, the sugar groups in these anthocyanins allow them to be absorbed by various different processes that the anthocyanidins cannot be transported by. This gives anthocyanins vastly better bioavailability than their anthocyanidin counterparts. For example, C3G can be actively transported by bilitranslocase, which cyanidin itself cannot be transported by.

Speaking of nutrients, this is the main attraction with C3G, so let’s dive into the nutrient partitioning effects!

The main attraction with C3G is its ability to act as a nutrient partitioning agent. This is a concept that became very popular in the bodybuilding world more than a decade ago. Bodybuilders are constantly tweaking their diets and exercise regiments in order to optimize muscle gain, while minimizing fat gain. This process becomes especially precise prior to competitions where bodybuilders enter a phase of caloric restriction which is commonly referred to as a “cutting phase”. During a cutting phase, the main goal is to preserve as much muscle mass as possible, while minimizing fat mass. This drastically enhances the definition of muscles, which on a stage, gives bodybuilders the most competitive edge as can be seen on figure 6. below.

By acting on a variety of different pathways in our body, C3G can shuttle more nutrients into our muscles, whilst ensuring that a limited amount of those nutrients are stored as fat. Furthermore, C3G also works on a variety of pathways which help burn fat, and turn white adipose tissue into the highly metabolically active brown adipose tissue. Two of the main pathways that C3G interacts with to pull off these effects are the PPAR-α and PGC-1α, pathways. By activating these two pathways, glucose uptake into our muscles, and glycogen storage is enhanced. This helps fuel our muscles, and shuttles energy away from fat storage. Furthermore, by activating these two pathways, fat utilization is increased, allowing us to burn fat and turn it into usable energy. C3G also upregulates the activity of UCP1 which is also referred to by the name thermogenin. UCP1 allows us to burn fat in brown adipose tissue by turning it into heat. This is primarily what drives the concept commonly referred to as “thermogenesis”. Combine this with the ability of C3G to convert white adipose tissue into metabolically active brown adipose tissue, and you’ve got an excellent thermogenic effect!

This means that by enhancing the generation of new mitochondria, C3G can help turn more of the food we eat into energy.

Of course, these nutrient partitioning effects really come in handy during a cutting phase, because even with drastically reduced caloric intake, we can maintain plenty of muscle mass whilst being more effective at reducing fat mass. However, this does not mean C3G is only useful during a cutting phase. In fact, during normal caloric intake, or even during a “bulking phase”, where caloric intake drastically increases, C3G can be very useful. Of course, when we eat an excessive amount of calories, it will be inevitable to gain fat mass. However, with C3G in the mix, and a heavy workout regiment, we can help enhance muscle growth whilst reducing the amount of fat mass gained. For those of us who are not hardcore bodybuilders, taking C3G on a daily basis will also help keep us leaner and more physically energized! This is especially nice in combination with the mentally energizing effects, so let’s dive into the previously unexplored nootropic potential of C3G!

When we first started beta-testing C3G, we were not at all prepared for the nootropic benefits. I (Emiel, author of this blog) first took C3G before going on a bike ride to test its physical performance enhancing effects. When I got on my bike, the first thing I noticed was that my field of vision was significantly enhanced. This is an effect I sometimes get with nootropic compounds, but haven’t experienced in quite some time, so this immediately stood out to me. The field of vision expanding effect then transitioned into a gradual sharpening of my vision and mind. About 45 minutes into dosing C3G, I started noticing a prominent mental energizing and mood lifting effect. Combined with the physically energizing effect of C3G, this really optimized my bike ride. I felt faster, and much more coordinated, allowing me to take faster and more challenging turns, and pushing myself to reach higher and higher speeds. At the end of the bike ride, I felt mentally charged with my mood significantly boosted. Subsequent dosing experiments yielded similar results. In fact, I’m now three weeks into dosing C3G on a daily basis, and the acute mood and focus enhancing effects are still there, and overtime it appears to have a more palpable mood and memory enhancing effect.

This is likely what forms the main basis for the acute energizing and mood boosting effects. The field of vision expanding effect is normally an effect I get from nootropics that can boost cerebral blood flow. Doing some research into C3G, it quickly became apparent that C3G can enhance cerebral blood flow, likely by upregulating the eNOS enzyme, which produces nitric oxide in our blood vessels and leads to a vasodilating effect.

After doing some more digging into the PGC-1α pathway, we discovered something very surprising! One of the main drivers of C3G’s effect on nutrient partitioning, is its ability to activate the PGC-1α pathway, with one of the main outcomes of PGC-1α activation being significantly enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis. It turns out that BDNF also activates the PGC-1α pathway, and the resulting increase in mitochondrial biogenesis is essential for driving the process of neuroplasticity!

While not as exciting of a topic as enhancing neuroplasticity, the ability of C3G to mitigate both neuro-oxidation and neuroinflammation, will also have a nootropic and neuroprotective effect. In fact, elevated levels of neuroinflammation are often linked to the experience of “brain fog”, and thus being able to mitigate this to an extent with C3G, could help enhance mental clarity. Overall, given C3G and cyanidins ability to readily pass the blood brain barrier, it appears to be an excellent natural nootropic!