What is the difference between Korean ginseng and American ginseng?

Actually, these two herbs have similarities with the most obvious being they contain antioxidants known as ginsenosides.

What makes Korean ginseng different than American Ginseng is the amount of ginsenosides and the  amount of ginsenosides.

Some other names you may see include in reference to ginseng is Siberian or Red Ginseng.   Siberian ginseng is different because it contains eleutherosides.

ginseng

Here are the some details about Korean Ginseng –

– Another name for Korean ginseng is panax ginseng.

– Panax ginseng typically has higher amounts of ginsenosides than American Ginseng.

– Research on panax ginseng  has shown benefits for improving physical and mental performance under stressful conditions.

– Another benefit of panax ginseng is improvements in blood sugar regulation.

– Also, panax ginseng is used in traditional Chinese medicine.

 

Here is some information about American ginseng –

– American ginseng typically is reported to have lower amounts of ginsenosides and different types of ginsenosides than Korean ginseng / Panax ginseg.

– Health benefits for American ginseng include improved immune function, relieving nervousness and anxiety, improving digestion.  American ginseng has also been reported to improve blood sugar levels.

 

Active compounds in Ginseng

– The biologically active compounds in ginseng are ginsenosides.  There are literally dozens and dozens of these in American and Asian ginseng.

 

Health benefits of Ginseng

In a clinical trial ginseng was shown to be as effective as a prescription drug for controlling symptoms of fibromyalgia.  When reviewing the searchable database PubMed and limiting the results to clinical trials there are more than 300 clinical trials performed with Ginseng.

Jeremy Johnson, PharmD, PhD


Categories: Plant Medicine