Traditional Chinese medicine catagorizes ginseng as a yang tonic that can increase strength, promote life and appetite, and overcome general debility, blocked qi (pronounced chee), and impotence.

Active Ingredients :
Ginseng is full of saponins termed ginsenosides. Approximately thirty of these compounds have been identified, and they appear to be responsible for most of the activity of ginseng. Their chemical structures are similar to those of steroids such as testosterone and estrogen. The picture is complex, however. Not only do the various species and forms of ginseng have different ginsenoside profiles, the ginsenosides themselves have differing and sometimes opposing actions.

Ginsenoside Rb1, for example, seems to lead to sedation and lower blood pressure, while ginsenoside Rg1 acts as a stimulant and raises blood pressure.

These distinct pharmacological activities and the variation in composition from one piece of ginseng root to another, depending on variety, growing conditions, and processing, probably explain why research results on ginseng are inconsistent. Some commercial products are standardized to 4 percent ginsenosides and others to 7 percent.

Other ingredients of ginseng root may also have important activity. They include essential oil, phytosterol, carbohydrates, amino acids, peptides, vitamins, minerals, and some other ingredients.

Nonsaponin constituents appear to be responsible for the ability of Korean red ginseng root to lower blood sugar in diabetics.

Still other compounds may be responsible for ginseng's apparent ability to stimulate nitric oxide formation, which may explain certain other of its traditional actions, including its reputed ability to help combat impotence.

Uses:
The most common use of ginseng in Chinese medicine was (and perhaps still is) as a general tonic, and scientists have devoted a certain amount of effort to studying ginseng as an "adaptogen." This category, which doesn"t correspond to any widely used pharmaceuticals, implies that ginseng is helpful in counteracting stress.

Indeed, some researchers believe that the benefits of an adaptogen are apparent only when the organism has been stressed to its limits. Despite this, in a well-designed placebo-controlled study, ginseng ingestion for up to ninety-six days did not protect rats exposed to a highly stressful situation, having to swim in cold water.

In animals, ginseng is sedative at low doses and a stimulant at high doses. To some extent this is related to the effects of the different ginsenosides.

Some studies of humans have shown that ginseng standardized extracts can help people react more quickly to both visual and auditory cues, increase concentration, and improve hand-eye coordination. Not all studies have reached similar conclusions.

Ginseng can change body biochemistry, and a careful study of fifty male physical education teachers demonstrated that they were able to do significantly more work (defined in kilogram-meters) after ginseng administration than after placebo.

Maximum oxygen uptake was higher. Holding workload constant, the teachers consumed less oxygen, produced less lactate in their muscles, and had lower heart rates when they had been given ginseng.

A number of other studies have also found that ginseng increased aerobic capacity, reduced lactate levels in the blood, and lowered heart rate during exercise. Many of these studies, however, did not include placebo controls.

Animal studies demonstrate that ginseng extracts can have a protective effect when used to pretreat small mammals undergoing radiation.

Italian pharmacologists have found that pretreatment with a standard ginseng extract (G115) significantly improved immune response to vaccination against influenza compared to placebo pretreatment.

Some glycosides found in red ginseng appear to act as antioxidants. This property might be the foundation for the anticancer effect seen in one study of mice exposed to cancer-causing chemicals.

Those who were given extract of six-year-old ginseng in their drinking water developed significantly fewer lung tumors after injection with benzo(a)pyrene, a strong carcinogen. Fresh four-year-old ginseng was not protective.

An epidemiological study in Korea suggested that people who use ginseng regularly may be less likely to come down with cancer, but further studies are needed.

Ginseng is reported to lower cholesterol, presumably by accelerating its metabolism and removal from the body. Studies in chickens indicate that low-density lipoprotein (sometimes termed "bad cholesterol") is especially affected.

Ginsenoside Rg2 can keep blood platelets from aggregating, and ginsenoside Ro prevents fibrinogen from being converted to fibrin, an important clotting factor.

At least one active ginseng component inhibits thromboxane and thus might contribute to an anticoagulant effect.

In animals, extracts of ginseng have helped to control diabetes. One double-blind Finnish study considered the effects of ginseng extract on newly diagnosed human diabetics (non-insulin-dependent).

The investigators found that ginseng improved patients' mood and increased their sense of well-being. People taking ginseng, but not those on placebo treatment, had lower fasting blood glucose and more normal glycosylated hemoglobin levels. Further studies in this field are needed.

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