The Health Benefits Of Ginseng

And why Asians place such a big emphasis on ginseng.

The root of the ginseng plant has been used extensively in Asian medicine for thousands of years. In fact, the Goryeo dynasty (which is where we get the name “Korea”) used it for skincare purposes. Even the stereotypically Asian movie Crazy Rich Asians depicted an Asian person drinking ginseng tea for strength boosting purposes.

Growing up as an Asian, yes I did have to drink ginseng tea occasionally too. My mother made it from time to time. Much like the stereotypical tiger mums depicted in Crazy Rich Asians. I hated the bitter taste of ginseng tea. Ginseng chicken soup also had that associated bitterness that was thankfully dulled by the other flavours provided by the chicken and the seasonings.

But at the same time, ginseng root does have its medicinal properties, we can’t deny that. Especially when we’re looking at regulating the inflammatory response in the immune system — there’s no doubt that there are benefits of consuming ginseng.

Of course, we do have two major species of ginseng — American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) and Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng). Both contain their own unique phytonutrients, which comprise mainly ginsenosides and gintonin.

Of course, the ginsenosides are the things that we would want to look at further.

The major component of Panax ginseng is ginsenoside-Rb1 (G-Rb1), which exhibits potent anti-inflammatory effects. As G-Rb1 downregulates various inflammatory pathways in the body, we’d expect to see some effects in the areas of osteoarthritis or osteoporosis, even.

Which we do. However, we can’t flat out say that G-Rb1 is a wonder cure for osteoarthritis or osteoporosis — it is not a miracle drug.

Osteoarthritis and osteoporosis themselves aren’t just simple ailments that can be reversed via the consumption of any nutrient or drug.

We can’t just consider osteoporosis to be a calcium issue:

And neither can we consider osteoarthritis to be a collagen issue:

So ginseng on its own isn’t going to solve an osteoarthritis or an osteoporosis issue. It can, however, influence the inflammatory pathways that support the destruction of bone mineral or joint cartilage, which generates a trickle-down sequential effect that results in a reduced rate of bone mineral loss or joint cartilage destruction. The in-between steps are not very easily described.

But of course, some people will develop the misconception that ginseng is a miracle cure. After all, when we consume G-Rb1, our gut bacteria will also metabolise ginsenosides into Compound K:

The metabolism of ginsenosides to compound K by gut microbiota in individuals treated with ginseng is proportional to the area under the blood concentration curve for compound K in their blood samples. These metabolites such as compound K exhibit potent pharmacological effects, such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiallergic, and neuroprotective effects compared with the parent ginsenosides, such as Rb1, Rb2, and Re.

Throw in the buzzwords of “antitumor”, “anti-inflammatory”, “antidiabetic”, “antiallergic” and “neuroprotective” and we can be suckered into believing that it is a miracle drug.

Of which it is not. Let’s not fool ourselves.

Because the author of that quote also includes a caveat:

this metabolizing activity varies between individuals.

But we can see that all the health issues listed up there: cancer, diabetes, allergic reactions and brain degeneration — are they not all a result of the human body’s inability to regulate the inflammatory response sufficiently?

So yes, ginsenosides do support the body’s immune system — but it depends on how well the body metabolizes it. In fact, G-Rb1 has also been shown to affect the gut microbiota — in a positive way, however, by supporting the proliferation of species that can convert it into Compound K.

Therefore we could even consider G-Rb1 as a nutrient that supports gut health and overall human health.

In fact, it can even support brain health and potentially help to deal with Alzheimer’s and depression even — though, of course, there are multiple facets to consider in brain degeneration:

So while ginseng may be beneficial, and ginseng may help people in certain health situations, we can’t really count on it to always happen. It is a nutrient, and it may help. But it isn’t a miracle drug at all.

But meanwhile, I can count on it (and bacopa monnieri) as a useful nootropic combo to aid in my concentration at work:

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