Ginseng: Facts and Folklore

(Page 4 of 6)

March/April 1997
By Christopher Hobbs 
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Heart disease and cancer: Ginseng is commonly used throughout China to treat heart disease and cancer, but few controlled clinical studies exist to determine whether ginseng can really fight these diseases. One uncontrolled human study performed in 1995 in China showed that red ginseng is effective in treating congestive heart failure, and a 1994 study showed that patients recovering from open-heart surgery who took ginsenosides recovered faster and had less tissue damage than patients who did not take the ginsenosides.

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In 1995, researchers performed ­statistical analyses on 1,987 pairs of human volunteers to determine whether ginseng might prevent cancer. Participants in one group had been diagnosed with various types of cancer, while those in the other group were healthy. The researchers determined that ginseng users had lower risks of lip, oral pharyngeal, esoph­ageal, stomach, colorectal, liver, pancreatic, laryngeal, lung, and ovarian cancers.

Cancer treatment: In China, herbs are commonly used to supplement chemo- and radiation therapy. In 1994, researchers conducted a study of this practice, focusing on twelve patients’ use of ginseng leaf and the root of astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) in conjunction with vincristine, cyclo­phos­phamide, and other conventional chemotherapy agents. They reported that the survival rates of patients taking ginseng and astragalus increased “considerably”, with ten of the twelve patients gaining more than three to seventeen years of survival than those not using the herbal medicine. The treatments were given for more than two years.

Sexual performance: Whether ginseng has an effect on human sex hormones is not clear. Experiments have shown that ginseng can affect the sexual function and speed sexual maturity of mice and rabbits by stimulating specific glands to increase sex-hormone secretion. How this translates to human use is unknown, but the herb’s reputation as an aphrodisiac continues to pique the interest of researchers.

Wild Winseng: As Coveted As Gold

The high market price for wild American ginseng root (Panax quinquefolius)—as much as $600 a pound—may lead to its extinction.

Officials in the Northeastern United States, where the wild herb grows, say that the price encourages poachers and some landowners to take the wild roots before they have a chance to reach seed-bearing age, a practice which could lead to the end of P. quinquefolius. It once grew freely in cool woodlands from Quebec to Manitoba and as far south as Florida.

The market for wild American ginseng root lies ­largely in the East, where Asians believe that it possesses more therapeutic value than its cultivated counterpart (grown mainly in Wisconsin and British Columbia). But experts also attribute its popularity to a growing interest in ginseng in the West. It has officially been listed as a threatened species in more than half of the fifty United States. Fortunately, organic, cultivated American ginseng is available.

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