{"id":1845,"date":"2020-07-02T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T11:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/84.18.216.250\/~herbalreality\/?post_type=herb&p=1845"},"modified":"2025-05-25T08:26:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T07:26:24","slug":"ginseng","status":"publish","type":"herb","link":"https:\/\/www.herbalreality.com\/herb\/ginseng\/","title":{"rendered":"Ginseng"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":1704,"parent":0,"menu_order":-200,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"1","beyondwords_project_id":"47224","beyondwords_content_id":"ea50366f-31c3-445d-a58f-eb964fd412b0","beyondwords_preview_token":"6aad3ea7-718a-4541-a6ac-4b36f2e96f5c","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_code":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"tags":[48,85,86,49],"conditions":[696],"sustainability":[1575],"sense":[27,28],"western_action":[999,988,1015,1829],"chinese_action":[1051,1047,1038,1048,1167],"ayurvedic_action":[],"energetics_action":[1512,1523,1488,1491,1496,1522,1511,1494,1380,1504],"region":[1898],"class_list":["post-1845","herb","type-herb","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fatigue","tag-ginseng","tag-men","tag-stress","conditions-nervous-system","sustainability-amber-sustainability-status","sense-sweet","sense-mucilaginous","western_action-aphrodisiac","western_action-adaptogen","western_action-immunomodulant","western_action-thymoleptic","chinese_action-nourish-heart-calm-spirit","chinese_action-tonify-blood","chinese_action-tonify-the-qi","chinese_action-tonify-yang","chinese_action-treat-cough-stop-wheezing","energetics_action-bitter-taste-chinese","energetics_action-lung","energetics_action-moist","energetics_action-neutralising","energetics_action-sour","energetics_action-spleen","energetics_action-sweet-taste-chinese","energetics_action-sweet","energetics_action-warm","energetics_action-warm-temperature-chinese","region-traditional-chinese-herbs"],"acf":{"last_reviewed":"20200702","herb_author":1235,"banner_text":"Ginseng is one of the most exalted remedies in Asian tradition","latin_name":"Panax ginseng<\/em>","pseudonym_name":"","family_name":"Araliaceae","herb_summary":"In Asian tradition Ginseng was especially valued to maintain mental and physical health into old age and was also used in higher doses to help deal with short term challenges, to recover from illness and fatigue.","key_benefits":"Fatigue\r\nStress management\r\nCognitive and athletic performance\r\nMen\u2019s health","how_does_it_feel":"Probably the simplest way to sample ginseng is to obtain a good quality tablet of the dried root powder, This can easily and safely be chewed. There is a faint fragrant aroma and then the main impression is of gentle sweetness, for most a quite pleasant taste. There is a definite mucilaginous quality as the powder is moistened in the mouth (this is due to the soapy properties of the saponins that are the main actives in ginseng) and finally a mild bitter aftertaste.\r\n\r\nThe consistent reputation of ginseng is as a tonic and as is seen here this is linked to both the traditional medicinal qualities of (subtle) sweetness and to the properties of saponins, that are so often linked to benefits on the body\u2019s steroid metabolism.","hdif_image_1":3847,"hdif_image_2":5352,"hdif_image_3":13568,"hdif_video":"","sense":[28,27],"what_can_i_use_it_for":"The traditional use of ginseng, partially supported by clinical trial evidence, is to improve mental performance and well-being, and particularly to improve stress responses.\r\n\r\nIt has long been used as a tonic when rundown and exhausted, and for the elderly and infirm.\r\n\r\nIt has a particular tradition in helping men with prostatic problems and also those with poor sexual performance.\r\n\r\nThere is clinical evidence that it can be helpful in low-grade circulatory problems and non-insulin dependent Type 2 diabetes.","into_the_heart_of":"\"\"Panax or red ginseng was in the 1950\u2019s the first defined \u2018adaptogen\u2019, described as a remedy that could improve the body\u2019s capacity to cope with (\u2018adapt to\u2019) stressful circumstances. It has been widely used to increase strength and endurance during periods of short-term and long-term stress.\r\n\r\nIn\u00a0The Root of Being: the Pharmacology of Harmony,<\/em>\u00a0an influential book published in 1980, Stephen Fulder argued that ginseng\u2019s benefits could be due to its ability to modulate the responses of the adrenal cortex to stress. This gland produces steroid hormones and Fulder made the case that as ginseng contains steroidal-like substances (ginsenosides) it could interact with the body\u2019s switching mechanisms, particularly in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis. This could explain the use of ginseng both to switch on protective responses at the onset of stress, and to avoid adrenal exhaustion by switching them off more effectively when they had done their job. It has been used for this benefit by soldiers, cosmonauts and students studying for exams.\r\n\r\nThis short term effect is one of two quite separate traditional uses for ginseng. The second was as a long-term remedy for people who are rundown, tired, recovering from illness or injury, or more generally infirm.","tradtional_uses":"\"\"Ginseng is classified in traditional Chinese medicine as a\u00a0qi<\/em>\u00a0tonic. Such tonics are used to support active (yang<\/em>) energies and are used for depletion of\u00a0qi<\/em>, particularly in the Chinese\u00a0Spleen<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Lungs.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn the case of deficient\u00a0Spleen qi<\/em>, possibly as a result of prolonged illness or constitutional weakness, disturbance is likely to affect the functions of assimilation and distribution, to be associated with such symptoms as fatigue and depression with depressed digestion, diarrhoea, abdominal pain or tension, visceral prolapse, pale yellow complexion with a tinge of red or purple, pale tongue with white coating, and\/or languid, frail or indistinct pulses. This may lead in turn to a \u201cdamp\u201d condition developing.\r\n\r\nIn the case of deficient\u00a0Lung qi<\/em>, extreme or prolonged stress or disease, or chronic pulmonary disease, leads to depletion or cold in the\u00a0Lungs<\/em>, with easy fatigue and prostration associated with disturbances of regulation, shortness of breath or shallow breathing, rapid, slow or little speech, spontaneous perspiration, pallid complexion, dry skin, pale tongue with thin white coating, weak and depleted pulses. Its primary use here in acute medicine was for conditions marked by shallow respiration and shortness of breath.\r\n\r\nGinseng also benefits and calms the\u00a0Spirit<\/em>\u00a0(a manifestation of\u00a0Heart qi<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 hence is used for palpitations with anxiety, insomnia and restlessness). In the west ginseng had a range of uses. In 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century British herbalism is was applied to the treatment of neurasthenia (exhausted nervous conditions), neuralgia and for depressive states, particularly associated with depleted libido. In 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century North America the Eclectic physicians used it in addition for asthma and convulsions.","what_practioners_say":"

\"\"<\/strong>Adrenals<\/h3>\r\nAs an adaptogen ginseng can support prompt stress management while also protecting against exhaustion. Adaptogens improve overall wellbeing, increase energy, increase inner strength, improve libido, balance the stress response, improve blood sugar levels, optimise protein synthesis, reduce inflammatory cortisol levels and optimise the function of all of your organs.\r\n

Musculoskeletal<\/h3>\r\nGinseng is indicated for the very active as well as the elderly. It has been used to improve muscle regeneration and repair after exertion.\r\n

Nervous<\/h3>\r\nGinseng supports a nervous system that has become weakened by stress. It is indicated in states of nervous insomnia, prolonged anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome. It is not a stimulant as such although in some cases has been used with, and then exacerbated other stimulants.\r\n

Cardiovascular<\/h3>\r\nGinseng tonifies the heart and improves cardiac performance. There is evidence that it reduces various inflammatory markers and benefits several conditions linked by endothelial dysfunction: hypertension, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, and can reduce blood cholesterol and lipid levels.","research":"\"\"In a systematic review of the clinical evidence ginseng was shown to be a promising treatment for fatigue, especially in people with chronic illness. However this review confirmed the widespread observation that the evidence base for ginseng is notably mixed and called for more robust studies (1).\r\n\r\nThere is encouraging evidence that ginseng can benefit men with erectile dysfunction, although the meta-analysis concluded that more robust studies are required (2). Ginseng has sometimes been regarded as a male remedy in Asian cultures and the evidence so far does not support its benefits in symptoms of the female menopause (3).\r\n\r\nThere are a number of studies that point to the benefits of ginseng on markers of inflammation, circulatory disease and metabolic problems (all tentatively linked by endothelial dysfunction). One meta-analysis and systematic review concluded that ginseng improved glucose control and insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose intolerance (4). A similar tentative conclusion had earlier been reached (5). In a meta-analysis of clinical trials a significant effect was demonstrated for the effect of ginseng on blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a standard marker of inflammatory activity in the body (6). Another review has shown collected benefits on cholesterol and blood lipid levels (7), and similar guarded benefits have been shown in the reduction of high blood pressure (8,9).","did_you_know":"In former imperial China the social ranking of court officials would be marked by the splendour of the ginseng root that they could afford for their retirement. The most valuable were not only the largest but those most man-shaped. Each root would be displayed in a glass jar and steeped in wine. A daily sip would be taken and the wine replenished. This way the root could provide tonic strength long into a healthy old age.","additional_information_right":{"illustration":7559},"additional_information_left":{"botany":"Panax ginseng<\/span><\/i> is a perennial slow-growing herb native to the mountainous regions of China, Japan, Korea and Russia, though now extremely rare in the wild. The stem is erect, simple not branching, the leaves are verticillate and compound with five leaflets; the three terminal leaflets are larger than the lateral ones. The flowerhead is a small umbel consisting of pink flowers with five petals. The fruit is a small berry which is red when ripe. The pale yellow\/brown roots grow up to 10cm and characteristically represent the shape of the human form (\u2018man root\u2019). The material used commercially is entirely from cultivated plants as Panax ginseng is a grade-II listed species on China\u2019s Protected species list, requiring harvesting and trade to take place only with a permit from provincial authorities and under their oversight.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe root is sometimes cured soon after harvesting, a process involving steaming, sun-drying and smoking, this producing so-called \"red ginseng\", a deep-red root with a glassy fracture.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlternate botanical names: <\/b>\r\n\r\nThere are many species of ginseng recorded, notably the American ginseng P. quinquefolium L, P. pseudo-ginseng var. notoginseng Burk., found wild in the Yunnan and Kwangsi provinces of China, and P. pseudo-ginseng var. japonicus\u00a0 C.A. Meyer., or Japanese ginseng. There is also a distantly related \"Siberian ginseng\", Eleutherococcus senticosus. All these plants have different constituents and activities and only P. ginseng is discussed here.<\/span>","common_names":"