Ginseng: Facts and Folklore

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• Ginseng root turns red and hard when the fresh root is slowly steamed, then dried. It is suspected that steaming alters constituents known as ginsenosides and makes red ginseng more stimulating than the white form. In TCM, red ginseng is frequently given to people aged forty and older who have “collapsed qi”, as shown by low energy, withdrawal, lackluster appearance, and low sex drive.

• Native Americans have used American ginseng for centuries to treat fevers, colic, convulsions, dysentery, and headaches. The Chinese consider it a better tonic than Asian ginseng for supporting the adrenal glands, regulating metabolism, and increasing fluids. They view it as even more cooling than Asian ginseng and thus appropriate for younger, hotter, stressed individuals. Unfortunately, high market prices—as much as $600 a pound—and irresponsible harvesters have helped bring wild American ginseng to the brink of extinction in much of its range (for more information about this environmental concern, see page 37).

Health Claims and Human Studies

Centuries ago, people thought that the ginseng root resembled a human and that this was a hint of its medicinal value. Because the root resembled man, they believed it could be used to treat man (a concept known as the Doctrine of Signatures). This belief led healers initially to use ginseng as a panacea, or cure-all, and many still view it as such.

From a Western standpoint, how­ever, little evidence exists to support ginseng’s effectiveness. Chemical analysis has shown that ginseng contains many vitamins, minerals, and—unique to plants in the genus Panax—steroidlike compounds called ginsenosides. As many as eleven major ginsenosides and about nineteen minor ones may occur in a single species. The amount of a given ginsenoside varies not only from species to species, but also with growing and manufacturing conditions.

Of the many scientific studies on ginseng’s effects, most performed and published in China, 95 percent have involved animals or animal or human cell cultures; few have involved humans or were designed with controls to ensure consistent testing methodology. Modern Chinese researchers are aware that more well-designed studies are needed before Westerners as a whole will accept ginseng as a valuable remedy or preventive, but here are some of the results to date.

Athletic performance: Ginseng appears to improve both physical and mental performance under stress. In 1982, researchers at the University of Munich found that fourteen healthy male athletes training at least ten hours a week and receiving a standardized ginseng extract twice daily increased their maximum oxygen uptake, whereas athletes receiving a placebo did not. Those in the ginseng group also had a faster recovery pe­riod and lower incidence of muscle ­fatigue than those taking the placebo. Two earlier studies, each nine weeks long and involving twenty and thirty volunteers, had similar outcomes. The athletes’ enhanced performance and metabolic efficiency persisted for three weeks after the ginseng administration stopped.

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