Ginseng & Red Ginseng
Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer and processed preparations
Ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is the institute's central subject. Processing changes the composition, and a change in composition changes the response in the body. Making that difference measurable is the task in this area.
Materials covered
White, red and black ginseng
Ginsenoside composition varies with drying and the number of steaming cycles. We establish the marker profile at each processing stage before it feeds into the study design.
Fermented red ginseng
Ginsenosides converted by gut microbiota or enzymes. Because the absorbed form differs, it is treated as a distinct material in human evaluation.
Extracts and enriched preparations
Materials enriched in or fractionated for particular ginsenosides. Batch uniformity is a precondition of the study design.
The institute's record in ginseng research
The principal investigator has published three first-author human studies of fermented red ginseng in SCIE-indexed journals, dealing respectively with free fatty acid regulation (Lee & Ji, 2014a), depression measures (Lee & Ji, 2014b) and glucose metabolism (Lee et al., 2013).
What the three have in common is that they did not merely report a change in the outcome variable: each tested which pathway — hormonal, autonomic or lipid — mediated that change. The regulation of free fatty acids was reported to be mediated by hormones and the autonomic nervous system (Lee & Ji, 2014a); the change in depression measures was analysed as mediated by lipids (Lee & Ji, 2014b); and the glucose study tested a hypothesis of hormonal interaction by multiple group path analysis (Lee et al., 2013).
That approach — building both the outcome and the mediating pathway into the design — is applied to the human trials we are commissioned to design today. A result presented together with its pathway carries far more explanatory weight, both in peer review and in an approval dossier.
Design elements commonly overlooked in ginseng research
| Element | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Marker quantification | Two batches of the same 'red ginseng extract' can differ in ginsenoside composition. Without quantification beforehand, the result cannot be attributed to the material. |
| Individual variation in metabolism | Conversion of ginsenosides depends heavily on gut microbiota, which is why response varies so widely between participants. |
| Controlling background intake | Ginseng is consumed routinely; unless intake by other routes is controlled during the study, the control arm becomes contaminated. |
| Sensitivity of the endpoint | Effects of ginseng in humans are generally modest. An endpoint that is not sensitive enough will not detect them however large the sample. |
What can be commissioned
- Human trials aimed at functional ingredient approval for a specific ginseng preparation
- Comparative studies of the human response to different processing methods (fermentation, steaming, extraction)
- Re-analysis and publication of ginseng data you already hold
- Review of prior ginseng research and grading of the evidence, for grant proposals
References
- Lee, K. J., Lee, S. Y., & Ji, G. E. (2013). Diabetes-ameliorating effects of fermented red ginseng and causal effects on hormonal interactions: Testing the hypothesis by multiple group path analysis. Journal of Medicinal Food, 16(5), 383–395. https://doi.org/10.1089/jmf.2012.2583
- Lee, K. J., & Ji, G. E. (2014a). Free-fatty-acid-regulating effects of fermented red ginseng are mediated by hormones and by the autonomic nervous system. Journal of Ginseng Research, 38(2), 97–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgr.2013.12.003
- Lee, K. J., & Ji, G. E. (2014b). The effect of fermented red ginseng on depression is mediated by lipids. Nutritional Neuroscience, 17(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1179/1476830513Y.0000000059