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One Herb: A review of a popular herb Panax Ginseng -- by Dr.Bruce Ferguson

There are two types of Ginseng: Ginseng Ren Shen and American Ginseng Xi Yang Shen. They are both popular tonic herbs. They taste sweet and bitter. Both are expensive.

Originally from NE China, Ginseng Ren Shen is considered one of the most powerful Qi tonic herbs in TCM. It is the root of the plant Panax ginseng C.A. Mey. The wild ginseng (Ye Shan Shen) produces some of the best results but is now rare due to over harvesting. Nearly all Ginseng in the market is cultivated. Ginseng produced in North Korea is called Korean Ginseng, Gao-Li-Shen. Ginseng with red color, called Red Ginseng or Hong-Shen has a better quality, otherwise called White Ginseng or Bai-Shen.

American Ginseng Xi Yang Shen is the root of the plant Panax quinquefolium L. It is a powerful yin tonic herb. It is mainly produced in North American. In 1989 in the U.S. over 2 million pounds of cultivated American Ginseng was produced and exported, over 90 percent of that was grown in Wisconsin.

Warm Ginseng Ren Shen is used to tonify Qi and rescue Yuan (source) Qi from collapse. Entering the Spleen, Lung and Heart meridians it both tonifies Spleen and Lung as well as calms Shen with cardiotonic effects. Finally it is classically used to promote secretion of body fluid and relieve thirst. Common clinical uses include all of the following:

Deficiency of Spleen Qi with decreased appetite, diarrhea and abdominal distension;

Deficiency of Lung and Kidney Qi with shortness of breath, asthma, spontaneous daytime sweating and fatigue;

Deficiency of Lung and Heart Qi and Yin with dry cough, dry throat, fatigue and palpitations;

Deficiency of Spleen and Heart Qi with fatigue, palpitations, edema or diarrhea;

Deficiency of Qi and Yin due to diabetes or fever with thirst, irritability, short breath and weak pulse;

Disturbed Shen with palpitations, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia and forgetfulness;

Shock or collapse of Qi, Yuan Qi and Yang due to severe deficiency. loss of blood, severe diarrhea or vomiting manifested by sweating, cold limbs, short breath, weak and fading pulse.

American Ginseng with cool energy is used to nourish yin, replenish body fluid and clear deficient heat. The clinical uses include:

Tonifies lung yin with heat or fire with difficult breathing, dry cough.

Exhaustion of Qi and yin due to fever or chronic illness with thirst, fatigue, irritability and restlessness, short breath, weak pulse.

In the past 50 years over 3,000 scientific studies have been published on all aspects of ginseng, with about 600 scientific articles referenced on Medline alone since 1984. The recent research continues to demonstrate that saponins termed ginsenosides (panaxosides) are the primary active ingredients of Panax species. There are about 13 of these saponins thus far identified and classified as Ra1, Rb-1, Rg1 and so on. It is not surprising that this powerful tonic herb has been demonstrated to positively affect a large variety of functions including:

Tissue Healing: Positively affects vascular endothelial cell proliferation, increases interleukin-beta and stimulates fibronectin synthesis through changes in TGF-beta receptor expressions in fibroblasts.

Heart Disease: Reduces essential human hypertension and inhibits cholesterol and triglyceride rise in fatty liver progression.

Cancer: Inhibits human renal carcinoma cell proliferation, most cancers in rat models, increases most interleukins and GM-colony stimulating factors while increasing natural killer and t-helper cell activity. Human epidemiologic data indicate that ginseng consumption inhibits most cancers with long-cultivated ginseng shown to have the highest amounts of anti-cancer compounds.

Immune Modulation: Multiple studies have shown increased PMN cell function, decreased Ig G production and decreased lung pathology in Pseudomonas infected cystic fibrosis models.

Stress: Catecholamine decreases and increased psychological well-being have been shown in humans and rats subjected to various stressors.

Endurance: Ginseng saponins increase aerobic endurance in rats, though they needed to pre-dosed for 4 days before an effect was seen.

Pain: Saponins have been demonstrated to inhibit tonic but not acute pain in rats.

Learning: Crude ginseng extract increased learning in brain-damaged rats and reduced isolation-induced copulatory disorders.

In summary, Ginseng Ren Shen is the Qi tonic. It is used for Qi deficiency and shock. American Ginseng is the Yin Tonic, which is used for Yin deficiency. Panax is derived from the Greek pan for all and akos for cure. Hopefully this brief review has helped you see why herbalists might be so bold as to call Ren Shen a cure all.