Ginseng refers to a group of adaptogenic herbs from the plant family Araliacae. Commonly, ginseng refers to “true” ginseng, Panax (Korean) ginseng C.A. Meyer, or Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) or “Eleuthero” for short.
Medicinal preparations are made from the roots of the plants. Panax ginseng has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years as a tonic indicated for its beneficial effects on the central nervous system, protection from stress ulcers, increase of gastrointestinal motility, anti-fatigue action, enhancement of sexual function and acceleration of metabolism.
Claims:
- Relieves stress
- Enhances athletic performance
- Tonic for well-being
- Immune enhancer
- Stimulant
- Hypoglycemic (reduces blood sugar)
- Improves cognitive function
Korean ginseng is termed an adaptogen. An adaptogen is defined as a therapeutic and restorative tonic generally considered to produce a “balancing” effect on the body.
The properties required of a substance to fulfill this definition are that the substance should be innocuous and cause minimal disorders in the physiological functions of an organism, that the action be non-specific in that it increases resistance to a wide range of factors (including physical, chemical and biological factors), and that the substance should possess a normalizing action irrespective of the direction of the pathological changes. In general, an adaptogen can be thought of as a substance that helps the body to deal with stress.
The active components in Korean ginseng are thought to be ginsenosides, a family of triterpenoid saponins. In general, most of the top-quality ginseng products, whether whole root or extract, are standardized for ginsenoside content.
Scientific Support:
Unfortunately, the scientific evidence for ginseng is far from proven. For every study showing a positive benefit in terms of energy levels and/or physical or mental peformance, there is at least one other study showing no benefits.
Part of the discrepancy in results from well-controlled studies may have to do with differences between the ginseng extracts used in various studies (non-standardized extracts with unknown quantities of active components).
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