Compound Monograph

Salidroside

Phenolics Phenylpropanoids Natural (plant-derived); now also produced biosynthetically

Salidroside (rhodioloside) is the marquee marker glycoside of the adaptogen Rhodiola rosea — the beta-D-glucoside of tyrosol. Its anti-fatigue, neuroprotective, cardioprotective and anti-hypoxia signals are genuine but mostly preclinical or belong to the whole standardised extract (SHR-5); only one small exercise RCT has tested the pure isolated molecule.

Sources · 6

Where Does It Come From?

Salidroside is a synthetic phenylethanoid glycoside (beta-d-glucoside of tyrosol), found in Rhodiola rosea, Rhodiola crenulata, Other Rhodiola species and 3 other sources. It is well tolerated orally (low toxicity).

Also found in
As the aglycone tyrosol, in olive oil and wine Monograph coming soon
Other Rhodiola species Monograph coming soon
Rhodiola crenulata Monograph coming soon
Rhodiola rosea Monograph coming soon
Rhodiola sachalinensis Monograph coming soon

Concentration

Content by Source

Reported concentrations across the plants that contain salidroside — the bar marks the typical level, the line shows the reported range.

Typical level Reported range % of extract
Rhodiola rosea (standardised extract) commercial extract 1 [4]

Literature figures for varying plant parts and preparations. Read them as a comparative guide, not exact assays.

Salidroside at a Glance

Salidroside — also called rhodioloside — is the marker glycoside of rhodiola (Rhodiola rosea), the arctic-alpine adaptogen whose extracts are measured and priced by their salidroside content. Chemically it is the beta-D-glucoside of tyrosol: a simple phenylethanoid alcohol carried on a sugar. That glycoside identity is the whole story of the page — salidroside is what rhodiola extracts are standardised to, and tyrosol is what salidroside becomes once the sugar is cleaved.

It is a genuinely well-studied molecule by phytochemical standards, with a broad preclinical signal across anti-fatigue/adaptogen, neuroprotection, cardioprotection, anti-hypoxia and antidepressant-like effects 4,16Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →. The honest posture, though, is a split one: the human efficacy evidence is almost entirely the whole extract — the standardised preparation SHR-5, tested in stress-related fatigue and mental performance 12,13,15Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study → — while the isolated molecule has only a single small exercise RCT to its name 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →. Nearly everything else on salidroside itself is cell and rodent work.

Its safety profile is reassuringly clean at the molecule level 16Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →; the drug-interaction caution that attaches to rhodiola belongs to other constituents of the plant (CYP2D6-inhibiting flavonoids), not to salidroside 8Reference 8Xu W et al. · 2013Two potent cytochrome P450 2D6 inhibitors found in Rhodiola roseaView study →.

Salidroside & Tyrosol

The single most useful fact about this molecule is its relationship to its aglycone. Salidroside is tyrosol plus a glucose — p-tyrosol-8-O-beta-D-glucoside — so the two are a prodrug/aglycone pair: cleave the sugar and you get tyrosol, the same simple phenol found in olive oil and wine. Tyrosol is in turn the milder, single-hydroxyl cousin of hydroxytyrosol.

This matters for interpretation. In rat pharmacokinetics, tyrosol was recovered as the deglycosylation metabolite of salidroside after intravenous dosing, confirming the pair chemically 9Reference 9Guo N et al. · 2012AnimalSimultaneous determination of salidroside and its aglycone metabolite p-tyrosol in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryView study →. But — importantly — free tyrosol was not detected in plasma after oral salidroside in the same study, which argues that the intact glucoside itself is what circulates after an oral dose rather than being fully stripped to tyrosol in the gut 9Reference 9Guo N et al. · 2012AnimalSimultaneous determination of salidroside and its aglycone metabolite p-tyrosol in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryView study →. So salidroside is not simply a tyrosol delivery vehicle: the glycoside has its own absorption behaviour, and some of its reported activity (e.g. hypoxia protection) is shared with tyrosol as a distinct co-active, not merely inherited from it 7Reference 7Lee SY et al. · 2013Rhodiola crenulata and its bioactive components, salidroside and tyrosol, reverse the hypoxia-induced reduction of plasma-membrane-associated Na,K-ATPase expression via inhibition of ROS-AMPK-PKCξ pathwayView study →.

The practical read: treat salidroside and tyrosol as related but non-interchangeable — same phenolic core, different pharmacokinetics, overlapping but not identical evidence.

The Rhodiola Standardisation Story

Salidroside is the reason rhodiola labels carry two percentages. Commercial R. rosea extract is conventionally standardised to ~1% salidroside and ~3% rosavins, and that ~3:1 rosavin:salidroside ratio mirrors the authentic root 4Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →. The classic HPLC authentication method resolves five markers together — salidroside plus the cinnamyl (rosavin-type) glycosides rosavin, rosarin and rosin 5Reference 5Ganzera M et al. · 2001Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographyView study →.

The subtlety — and a recurring source of confusion in the literature — is that salidroside alone does not authenticate the species. It is a genus-wide marker, shared across Rhodiola species, whereas the rosavins are largely unique to R. rosea 5,4Reference 5Ganzera M et al. · 2001Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographyView study →Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →. A cheaper species such as R. crenulata can carry salidroside but little rosavin, so a “salidroside-standardised” extract is not necessarily R. rosea. This species discipline is not academic: the one human altitude trial that tested a rhodiola extract used R. crenulata, not R. rosea 14Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →, and the animal pregnancy work in the literature used R. kirilowii — neither speaks directly to the R. rosea adaptogen most consumers mean.

What It's Used For

Salidroside carries a broad, mechanistically coherent preclinical profile; the load-bearing caveat is that the human evidence is the standardised extract, not the isolate 4,12,13,15Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →.

A real anti-fatigue / adaptogen signal — but mostly the extract:the standardised R. rosea preparation SHR-5 reduced stress-related fatigue and improved mental performance in several randomised human trials 12,13,15Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →, and salidroside is the marker it is dosed by; the only trial of the isolated molecule is a small exercise-performance RCT of 60 mg/day biosynthetic salidroside 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →.
Broad preclinical neuro/cardio protection:salidroside is antioxidant (Nrf2 / SOD-catalase), anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2/Bax) and anti-inflammatory (NLRP3), giving replicated neuroprotective (Alzheimer’s-model meta-analysis) and cardioprotective (anthracycline) signals — all animal or cell work 2,10,16Reference 2Zhang N et al. · 2023Meta-analysisNeuroprotective Mechanisms of Salidroside in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Preclinical StudiesView study →Reference 10Wang XL et al. · 2013Salidroside improves doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction by suppression of excessive oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosisView study →Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →.
The honest headline on humans:almost all direct human data belong to the whole SHR-5 extract; salidroside’s own clinical footprint is a single isolate RCT, and the one altitude RCT was negative and used a different species (R. crenulata) 1,14Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →.
The interaction risk is at the herb level, not the molecule:rhodiola’s potent in-vitro CYP2D6 inhibition traces to its flavonoids rhodiosin/rhodionin, not to salidroside 8Reference 8Xu W et al. · 2013Two potent cytochrome P450 2D6 inhibitors found in Rhodiola roseaView study →.
Evidence by IndicationStrength of support · Beta

Support is an experimental score — weighted by study type (human > animal > in vitro) and volume. A beta, not a validated metric. Human efficacy data are largely the extract (SHR-5), not the isolate, so isolate scores stay modest by design.

Mechanisms

Target / pathwayEffectRelevant to
Nrf2 / antioxidant enzymes (SOD, catalase)↑ endogenous antioxidant defence, ↓ ROS
neuroprotectioncardioprotection
NADPH oxidase (NOX1)↓ ROS generation
cardioprotection
Bcl-2 / Bax / caspase-3shifts balance toward cell survival (anti-apoptotic)
neuro/cardioprotection
AMPK / mitochondrial function / ferroptosispreserves mitochondrial energy, limits ferroptotic death
anti-hypoxiacardioprotection
ROS-AMPK-PKC-zeta → Na,K-ATPaseprevents hypoxia-induced Na,K-ATPase endocytosis
anti-hypoxia
NLRP3 inflammasome / P2X7 / NF-kB (↓ IL-6, TNF-alpha)↓ neuroinflammation
antidepressantneuroprotection
SIRT1 / PGC-1alpha, BDNF↑ hippocampal neurogenesis / synaptic plasticity
antidepressant-like
HPA axis / cortisolnormalises the stress cortisol response
adaptogen / anti-fatigue (extract)
Monoamine oxidase (MAO-A/B)extract inhibits MAO — but the potent activity is rosiridin, not salidroside
mood (the extractnot the isolate)

The throughline is an antioxidant, anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory cytoprotection that plays out in neurons and cardiomyocytes alike; the adaptogenic HPA/cortisol normalisation and the MAO inhibition are properties of the whole extract, and MAO specifically maps to a different constituent 3,13Reference 3van Diermen D et al. · 2009Monoamine oxidase inhibition by Rhodiola rosea L. rootsView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →.

Pharmacokinetics

Salidroside is a polar phenolic glucoside, and its pharmacokinetics are the quiet caveat behind the impressive in-vitro numbers. In a rat LC-MS/MS study it was rapidly absorbed after oral dosing (Tmax ~0.3 h) with a short oral half-life (~1.3 h) and an oral bioavailability of roughly 52%; its aglycone tyrosol was detected as a metabolite after intravenous but not oral dosing, implying the intact glucoside is what circulates orally 9Reference 9Guo N et al. · 2012AnimalSimultaneous determination of salidroside and its aglycone metabolite p-tyrosol in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometryView study →. Intestinal uptake appears to involve the sodium-dependent glucose transporter SGLT1 (active, saturable transport). Set against that single moderate-bioavailability figure, the broader phenylethanoid-glycoside class is repeatedly flagged for poor oral bioavailability, which limits therapeutic translation 6Reference 6Wu L et al. · 2020Systematic reviewTherapeutic potential of phenylethanoid glycosides: A systematic reviewView study →. Human ADME for isolated salidroside — Cmax, half-life, bioavailability — is not well established; the human dosing that exists is the SHR-5 extract, not the pure molecule 1,4Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →.

Clinical Trials

Human trials cluster on the whole extract, not the isolate. The randomised anti-fatigue/mental-performance evidence is all SHR-5 12,13,15Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →; the isolated molecule has one exploratory exercise-performance RCT (60 mg/day) 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →; and the one altitude RCT was negative and used R. crenulata 14Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →.

CompletedPlannedTerminatedPreclinical
Extract(SHR-5) anti-fatigue/mental RCTs 12,13,15Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →; one isolate exercise RCT 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →; one negative altitude RCT (R. crenulata) 14Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →——Neuroprotection (AD meta-analysis), cardioprotection, antidepressant, anti-hypoxia mechanistic 2,10,11,16Reference 2Zhang N et al. · 2023Meta-analysisNeuroprotective Mechanisms of Salidroside in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Preclinical StudiesView study →Reference 10Wang XL et al. · 2013Salidroside improves doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction by suppression of excessive oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosisView study →Reference 11Ao W et al. · 2025ReviewResearch progress on the mechanism of antidepressant effect of salidrosideView study →Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →

Last checked: July 2026.

Isolate vs. Plant Studies

This file leans hard toward the plant/extract on the human axis and toward the isolate on the mechanistic axis. The mechanistic and disease-model work is overwhelmingly isolated salidroside in cells and rodents — the Alzheimer’s-model meta-analysis 2Reference 2Zhang N et al. · 2023Meta-analysisNeuroprotective Mechanisms of Salidroside in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Preclinical StudiesView study →, the doxorubicin cardioprotection series 10Reference 10Wang XL et al. · 2013Salidroside improves doxorubicin-induced cardiac dysfunction by suppression of excessive oxidative stress and cardiomyocyte apoptosisView study →, the antidepressant-mechanism studies 11Reference 11Ao W et al. · 2025ReviewResearch progress on the mechanism of antidepressant effect of salidrosideView study → and the Na,K-ATPase hypoxia work 7Reference 7Lee SY et al. · 2013Rhodiola crenulata and its bioactive components, salidroside and tyrosol, reverse the hypoxia-induced reduction of plasma-membrane-associated Na,K-ATPase expression via inhibition of ROS-AMPK-PKCξ pathwayView study → all test the molecule directly, which is a genuine preclinical strength. The human efficacy evidence, by contrast, is the standardised extract: SHR-5’s stress-related-fatigue and mental-performance RCTs are extract results in which salidroside is one marker among rosavins and ~140 other compounds 4,12,13,15Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →. The lone human study of the pure molecule is a small exercise RCT 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →. Two honesty flags recur: the whole extract’s MAO inhibition maps to rosiridin, not salidroside 3Reference 3van Diermen D et al. · 2009Monoamine oxidase inhibition by Rhodiola rosea L. rootsView study →, and the negative altitude RCT used R. crenulata, a different species 14Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →. Isolate mechanism + extract clinical evidence — the two are not interchangeable.

Its Role in Plants

In Rhodiola, salidroside and its rosavin co-markers accumulate in the roots and rhizomes of these cold-adapted, high-altitude and arctic plants, and are understood as stress-protective antioxidant metabolites — consistent with the genus’s habitat of high UV, cold and low oxygen. Biosynthetically salidroside is a glucoside of tyrosol, itself derived from the aromatic amino acid tyrosine via the phenylethanoid pathway, with a final glucosylation step attaching the sugar. The molecule’s antioxidant/cytoprotective chemistry in the lab is a plausible echo of its in-planta role buffering environmental oxidative stress — though, as always, a stress metabolite’s plant function does not by itself predict a human medicine.

Prevalence in Nature

Salidroside is a genus-wide Rhodiola marker, present across the roots and rhizomes of R. rosea, R. crenulata, R. sachalinensis and other Rhodiola species 4,5Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →Reference 5Ganzera M et al. · 2001Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographyView study →. In a standardised commercial R. rosea extract it runs at roughly 1%, paired with ~3% rosavins in the authenticating ~3:1 ratio 4Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →. Because salidroside is shared across the genus while rosavins are largely specific to R. rosea, salidroside content alone does not identify the species — a point with real consequences for interpreting the (R. crenulata) altitude data 5,14Reference 5Ganzera M et al. · 2001Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographyView study →Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →. Beyond Rhodiola, the aglycone tyrosol is widespread in olive oil, wine and beer, but the intact glucoside salidroside is characteristically a Rhodiola (and related crassulacean) compound rather than a Mediterranean-diet one.

Discovery & Synthesis

Salidroside has long been recognised as the principal phenylethanoid marker glycoside of Rhodiola rosea, where it is also known as rhodioloside; the standard analytical identity comes from the reversed-phase HPLC authentication work that resolves it alongside the rosavin markers 5Reference 5Ganzera M et al. · 2001Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographyView study →. No single dated first isolation is well documented in the sources reviewed here. What is notable for a plant glycoside is that salidroside is now produced biosynthetically at usable scale — the one human RCT of the pure molecule explicitly used biosynthetic salidroside, reflecting engineered enzymatic/microbial production rather than extraction from root 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →. That makes the isolate available for study independent of the whole extract, which is exactly why the isolate-vs-extract distinction is now testable.

Patents: not yet researched.

Toxicity & Safety

Salidroside carries a low toxicity flag at the molecule level: the dedicated CNS pharmacology review describes a favourable safety profile with few reported side effects, which is part of what makes it an attractive drug candidate 16Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →. The meaningful caution is not the molecule but the whole plant’s drug-interaction potential — and even that traces to other constituents.

Safety at a Glance
Low / no toxicity
  • Low-toxicity isolate. Salidroside itself shows a favourable safety profile with few reported adverse effects in the pharmacology literature 16Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →.
  • The interaction risk is at the herb level, not the molecule. R. rosea contains the flavonoids rhodiosin and rhodionin, potent in-vitro CYP2D6 inhibitors 8Reference 8Xu W et al. · 2013Two potent cytochrome P450 2D6 inhibitors found in Rhodiola roseaView study → — so the whole extract (not isolated salidroside) could in principle raise levels of CYP2D6-metabolised drugs. This is a rhodiola caution, flagged here for context.
  • Human isolate safety data are thin. Most human exposure and dosing evidence is the standardised extract, not pure salidroside 1,4Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →.
  • Species discipline. R. crenulata and R. kirilowii are different plants — the negative altitude data and the animal pregnancy work used those species, and do not transfer to R. rosea salidroside 14Reference 14Chiu TF et al. · 2013RCTRhodiola crenulata extract for prevention of acute mountain sickness: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trialView study →.
Full Safety & Interactions Detail

Molecule-level tolerability. Across its preclinical record salidroside is well tolerated, and reviews single out its clean safety profile as a development advantage 16Reference 16Zhong Z et al. · 2018ReviewPharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, and safety of salidroside in the central nervous systemView study →. There is no isolate-specific signal of organ toxicity in the sources reviewed here.

CYP2D6 — a herb interaction, not a salidroside one. The most cited rhodiola interaction concern is potent, non-competitive CYP2D6 inhibition in vitro (IC50 in the sub-micromolar range), but this is attributable to the herbacetin flavonoids rhodiosin and rhodionin, not to salidroside 8Reference 8Xu W et al. · 2013Two potent cytochrome P450 2D6 inhibitors found in Rhodiola roseaView study →. It is included here only because consumers meet salidroside inside the whole extract; the flag belongs to the rhodiola monograph, where intake is decided.

Reproductive note (prose only). The animal reproductive work in the rhodiola literature used R. kirilowii, a different species, and does not speak to isolated salidroside or to R. rosea; no dedicated reproductive-toxicity dataset exists for the pure molecule. Per site policy, pregnancy/lactation is adjudicated on the herb and product pages where intake is decided, not on this molecule page. No comprehensive isolate genotoxicity/repeat-dose package is characterised here beyond the tolerability above.

Dosage

There is no established therapeutic dose for isolated salidroside. The figures below are research doses — and they split cleanly into isolate and extract:

ApplicationFormDose (research)
Exercise / oxygen utilisation (isolate)biosynthetic salidroside60 mg/day for 16 days 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →
Stress-related fatigue (extract)SHR-5 standardised extract576 mg/day, standardised to ~1% salidroside 13Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →
Mental fatigue / night duty (extract)SHR-5, repeated low-dose regimenstudied in physicians and students 12,15Reference 12Spasov AA et al. · 2000RCTA double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of the stimulating and adaptogenic effect of Rhodiola rosea SHR-5 extract on the fatigue of students caused by stress during an examination period with a repeated low-dose regimenView study →Reference 15Darbinyan V et al. · 2000RCTRhodiola rosea in stress induced fatigue — a double blind cross-over study of a standardized extract SHR-5 with a repeated low-dose regimen on the mental performance of healthy physicians during night dutyView study →

The critical framing: only the first row is pure salidroside 1Reference 1Schwarz NA et al. · 2024RCTSalidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studyView study →; the extract rows deliver salidroside as ~1% of a multi-compound preparation dosed by extract weight 4,13Reference 4Panossian A et al. · 2010ReviewRosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacyView study →Reference 13Olsson EM et al. · 2009RCTA randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study of the standardised extract SHR-5 of the roots of Rhodiola rosea in the treatment of subjects with stress-related fatigueView study →. These are doses studied in research and are not a personal recommendation.

References

  1. Schwarz NA, et al. (2024). Salidroside and exercise performance in healthy active young adults — an exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39601362/
  2. Zhang N, et al. (2023). Neuroprotective Mechanisms of Salidroside in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Preclinical Studies. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37934032/
  3. van Diermen D, et al. (2009). Monoamine oxidase inhibition by Rhodiola rosea L. roots. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19168123/
  4. Panossian A, Wikman G, Sarris J (2010). Rosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacy. Phytomedicine (review). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20378318/
  5. Ganzera M, Yayla Y, Khan IA (2001). Analysis of the marker compounds of Rhodiola rosea L. (golden root) by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography. Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11310675/
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  7. Lee SY, et al. (2013). Rhodiola crenulata and its bioactive components, salidroside and tyrosol, reverse the hypoxia-induced reduction of plasma-membrane-associated Na,K-ATPase expression via inhibition of ROS-AMPK-PKCξ pathway. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23840253/
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