Quick answer

NIH's ashwagandha fact sheets describe trials in adults and give no guidance for anyone under 18. One 2026 trial gave root extract to 58 children and teens with mild ADHD for 56 days and reported no serious adverse events. That is one small trial, and it is not a recommendation. Ask your doctor before giving ashwagandha to a young person.^1,2

Key facts

NIH's health professional fact sheet describes its stress trials as trials in adults, 491 of them in the review it cites, and its sleep trials as 372 adults.¹
Neither NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements nor NCCIH gives guidance on ashwagandha for children or teens.^1,3
A 2026 randomized trial of 58 children and adolescents with mild ADHD reported no serious adverse events and no meaningful change in routine lab safety markers over 56 days.²
The adult cautions still apply to a teen who takes it: rare liver injury, possible thyroid changes, and interactions with some medicines.^1,3

What do NIH's fact sheets say about young people?

The short answer is that they say nothing about them. NIH's sheet for health professionals reviews the research on stress and sleep, and the studies it describes enrolled adults: its stress review covered 491 adults and its sleep review 372. NCCIH's page and the consumer sheet from the Office of Dietary Supplements do not mention age limits or doses for children.^1,3,4

That is a gap, not a finding. It means the official sources give a parent nothing to go on, in either direction.

What does the one trial in children and teens show?

A 2026 randomized, double-blind trial in India enrolled 58 children and adolescents with a clinical diagnosis of mild ADHD. Half took ashwagandha root extract as a gummy twice a day, and half took a matching placebo gummy, for 56 days. The abstract reports no serious adverse events and no clinically meaningful changes in routine laboratory safety markers.²

Read it as a narrow result. The children had a diagnosed condition and were followed by researchers, the trial lasted under two months, and we read only its abstract. It says nothing about teens who take ashwagandha for stress or sleep on their own, about longer use, or about higher amounts. Nobody has shown the same result in children without that diagnosis.²

Which adult cautions could matter for a teen?

The sources that exist were written about adults, but the cautions they raise are not age-specific, so a parent has reason to know them. The liver and thyroid findings below come from adult reports.^1,3

Rare cases of liver injury have been linked to ashwagandha, usually starting 2 to 12 weeks after people began taking it, with jaundice and itching. Most resolved within 1 to 4 months of stopping, but a few were fatal or needed a liver transplant, mainly in people who already had liver disease.^1,5

Ashwagandha may change thyroid hormone levels. In a trial of 50 people with a mildly underactive thyroid, 600 mg a day for 8 weeks lowered TSH and raised T3 and T4, and three women developed an overactive thyroid while taking it, which settled when they stopped.^1,6

None of the sources we read tested whether these effects differ in people who are still growing or going through puberty. NCCIH also says ashwagandha should be avoided in pregnancy, which applies to a pregnant teen as it does to any adult.³

What about teens who want it for anxiety or sleep?

The consumer sheet from the Office of Dietary Supplements is titled around stress, anxiety and sleep, and NIH says those are the uses it is commonly promoted for. The trials behind it were in adults. We found no official source or randomized trial that tested ashwagandha for anxiety or sleep in teens.^1,4

A teen with anxiety or sleep trouble that keeps coming back is worth raising with a doctor, who can look for causes and options that have been studied in young people.

Who should ask a doctor?

A parent considering ashwagandha for a child or teen should ask the pediatrician first.
A teen who takes any prescription medicine should ask a doctor or pharmacist, because NCCIH lists blood pressure, diabetes, sedative and thyroid medicines among possible interactions.
A teen with any liver or thyroid condition should ask before taking it.¹
A teen who is pregnant should ask a doctor, because NCCIH says to avoid ashwagandha in pregnancy.³

Questions people ask

Is ashwagandha OK for teens?

NIH's fact sheets describe trials in adults and give no guidance for teens. Ask your doctor before a teen takes it.¹

Is ashwagandha dangerous for teens?

No source reports harm in teens, and no source has tested them except one small 2026 trial in children and teens with mild ADHD that reported no serious adverse events. The cautions about the liver and thyroid come from adults. Ask your doctor.^2,3

Is ashwagandha good for teens with anxiety?

The research behind NIH's fact sheets was done in adults, and we found no official source or randomized trial of ashwagandha for anxiety in teens. Ask your doctor about options that have been studied in young people.¹

Is ashwagandha safe for kids?

Only one trial in children is known to this page, with 58 children and teens who had mild ADHD, and it reported no serious adverse events over 56 days. That does not settle the question for other children. Ask your pediatrician.²

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Sources

This page is information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own situation.