Adaptogenic effect of some herbs may hold certain merit on account of the ability of the substances to increase the bodies own response to oxidative stress, such as gynostemma pentaphyllum or poor-man's ginseng, which has been shown to increase the body's innate response by increased production of superoxide dismutase (SOD).
These phytoecdysteroids have been reputed to have medicinal value and are part of herbal adaptogenic remedies like Cordyceps, yet an ecdysteroid precursor in plants has been shown to have cytotoxic properties.