The very important herb to Chinese herbalist – Ginseng!!!!

Posted in Uncategorized - Written by on March 25, 2011

Ginseng has long been a very important herb in traditional Chinese medicine, and with the rise of New Age treatments in the West, it has become more popular here too. It is also known as Panax, the plant’s Greek name, which literally means ‘cure-all’ (like ‘panacea’).

The Chinese are not the only ones who made use of ginseng historically, however: the plant also grows in America, and Native Americans have eaten it for centuries, also using it as a medicine. As there is no way that the two groups could have been communicating with each other, either this is a huge co-incidence, or there must be some health benefits to ginseng.

America and China are the world’s two largest producers of ginseng, but the Chinese believe that American ginseng is very different to their own. They say that their ginseng is Yang, while the Americans’ is Yin. As the Chinese traditionally believe that Yin and Yang must be balanced, there is a lot of demand for American ginseng.

Ginseng can be eaten raw or prepared in various ways, but one of the most popular varieties is red ginseng. This is ginseng that has been heated up in the sun until it has gone red, and is then marinated in herbs. All sorts of extra health benefits are claimed for red ginseng, and many people also find that it tastes better.

Ginseng able to invigorates vital energy and relieves collapse-syndrome, it is normally used for listlessness, weak respiration or exhaustion of vital energy or blood. It prevents yin exhaustion.

In addition to that, ginseng invigorates spleen-energy such as spleen deficiency syndrome manifested as poor appetite, fatigue and emaciation, heamorrhagic diseases, prolapse of uterus and rectum, visceroptosis and anaemia
Some herbalist use it promotes the production of body fluid to quench thirst, febrile diseases with consumption of body fluid and diabetes can be treated with the usage of ginseng.

Most importantly it supplements vital energy and calms the mind. It has strong effects in curing deficiency of heart energy manifested as palpitation, amnesia, insomnia, absent mindedness, spontaneous perspiration, cardiodyriia. In addition, it is also for impotence, sterility, emission, ejaculation praecox, and enuresis.

Ginseng is nature’s anti-inflammatory

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CM NEWS – The famous immunological effects of ginseng have been confirmed and defined by a recent study. Ginseng is believed to have beneficial effects against human diseases, and its active components, ginsenosides, may play critical roles in its diverse physiological actions.

Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access Journal of Translational Medicine have shown that the herb, much used in traditional Chinese and other Asian medicine, does have anti-inflammatory effects.

What are the powers of ginseng? Ginseng roots contain multiple active constituents including ginsenosides, polysaccharides, peptides, polyacetylenic alcohols and fatty acids that have been shown to have different effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism as well as on the function of neuroendocrine, immune, cardiovascular and central nervous systems in humans.

Previous studies have shown that ginseng and its active components are potent immunomodulators. Their immunomodulatory effects are mostly due to its regulation of cytokine production and phagocytic activities of monocytes/macrophages and dendritic cells, as well as activation of T- and B- lymphocytes.

Ginsenosides, the steroid saponins, are major biologically active compounds of ginseng. Over 30 ginsenosides have been identified to date. Studies indicate that ginsenosides and their metabolites are responsible for many of the diverse physiological actions including the anti-inflammatory effects of ginseng.

Allan Lau led a team of researchers from the University of Hong Kong who identified seven ginseng constituents, ginsenosides, which showed immune-suppressive effects.

He said, “The anti-inflammatory role of ginseng may be due to the combined effects of these ginsenosides, targeting different levels of immunological activity, and so contributing to the diverse actions of ginseng in humans”.

The scientists treated human immune cells with different extracts of ginseng. They found that of the nine ginsenosides they identified, seven could selectively inhibit expression of the inflammatory gene CXCL-10.

Lau concludes, “Further studies will be needed to examine the potential beneficial effects of ginsenosides in the management of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases in humans”.

Uniquely, the researchers were able to holistically test the ginseng extract’s immune effects by using sophisticated purification technologies to identify individual constituents and define their bioactivity using genomics and bioactivity assays. After that, they reconstituted them back into a whole extract with definable individual ginsenosides for re-confirmation of effects. This potentially opens up a vigorous methodology to study medicinal herbs with state-of-the-art technologies.

[Journal of Translational Medicine 2009, 7:34; full article]