Ginseng is a well-known medicinal plant used in traditional Oriental medicine. In recent decades, ginseng root has gained popularity as a dietary supplement in the United States. Ginseng has also been commonly used in Oriental medicine to treat diabetes-like conditions. The present review discusses the research on the anti-diabetic effects of ginseng and the possible mechanisms of its anti-diab...

The most well-known medicinal plant, Panax ginseng (P. ginseng), contains various phytosterols and bioactive triterpene saponins (ginsenosides). Squalene synthase is a key regulatory enzyme for triterpene biosynthesis and overexpression of the squalene synthase confers the hyper-production of triterpene saponins to form transgenic ginseng. In this study, we have investigated whether and how tra...

Ginseng, a perennial plant belonging to the Panax genus of the Araliaceae family, has been used in China, Korea, and Japan as a traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years. Ginseng is recorded to have exhibited a wide variety of beneficial pharmacological effects and has become a popular and worldwide known health supplement and drug. The protective effects of ginseng on central nervous ...

BACKGROUND Western diets increase colon cancer risk. Epidemiological evidence and experimental studies suggest that ginseng can inhibit colon cancer development. In this study we asked if ginseng could inhibit Western diet (20% fat) promoted colonic tumorigenesis and if compound K, a microbial metabolite of ginseng could suppress colon cancer xenograft growth. METHODS Mice were initiated with...

Background Ginseng contains many small metabolites such as amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, and ginsenosides. However, little is known about the relationships between microorganisms and metabolites during the entire ginseng fermentation process. We investigated metabolic changes during ginseng fermentation according to the inoculation of food-compatible microorganisms. Methods Gas chr...

American ginseng root (Panax quinquefolius) has a number of purported therapeutic effects, including inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. The ability of environmentally relevant heavy metals to alter ginseng effects on cancer cell growth was the subject of this study. A water extract of American ginseng root was applied alone or in combination with physiologically relevant doses of either l...

We evaluated the effect of red ginseng on toxicity, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and survival after adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). A total of 30 patients with EOC were randomly assigned to placebo (n = 15) and red ginseng groups (n = 15). All patients took placebo or red ginseng (3000 mg/day) for three months. Then, we compared changes of genoto...

BACKGROUND Ginseng is a semishade perennial plant cultivated in sloping, sun-shaded areas in Korea. Recently, owing to air-environmental stress and various fungal diseases, greenhouse cultivation has been suggested as an alternative. However, the optimal light transmission rate (LTR) in the greenhouse has not been established. METHODS The effect of LTR on photosynthesis rate, growth, and gins...

BACKGROUND Panax ginseng has a wide range of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory functions. Wild ginseng cambial meristematic cells (CMCs) were obtained from P. ginseng cambium. This study examined the protective mechanism of wild ginseng CMCs against d-galactosamine (GalN)-induced liver injury. GalN, a well-known hepatotoxicant, causes severe he...

Sanyak has been used as a food and herbal material for various symptoms in oriental medicine. There have been few reports of occupational asthma induced by herb materials (1–6). Until now there has been no account of occupational asthma caused by Korean ginseng. We describe a case of occupational asthma and rhinitis caused by Sanyak (Dioscorea batatas) and Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng), as con...