Memory Enhancement from Two Weeks’ Exposure to North American Ginseng Extract HT1001 in Young and Middle Aged Healthy Adults

In vivo, in vitro, and animal learning studies have reported neuroactive effects of Rb1 and Rg1 ginsenosides that may be relevant to human learning and memory. The objective of this study was to assess potential learning and memory benefits of HT1001, a standardized proprietary North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) extract containing Rb1, Rg1 and other important ginsenosides, in healthy volunteers. Neuropsychological assessments were conducted using the Clinical Memory Scale (CMS), which has two parallel forms for baseline and post-treatment assessments. A young adult sample (YAS, n = 10) and a middle aged sample (MAS, n = 10) completed the CMS at baseline and again after 14 days’ exposure to 200mg HT1001 daily. The CMS Memory Quotient (MQ) showed significant main effects of time, with higher CMS-MQ on the second assessment compared to the first, and of age group, with the YAS performing better than the MAS. There was no interaction between time and age group. Secondary analyses indicated benefits for both groups on free recall of word lists, cued recall of word pairs, and recognition of figures, and benefits in the YAS but not the MAS on free recall of pictures. Taken together, the results suggest that memory, as measured with the CMS-MQ, was significantly improved with open-label HT1001. While practise effects cannot be completely ruled out, the results presented here are exciting and timely given our increasingly ageing population, and provide preliminary support for a prospective placebo-controlled examination of HT1001 on learning and memory.