For centuries, ginseng has been one of the world’s most popular herbs, consumed by people from hundred of different generations
for thousand of years. Today, millions of people around the world still take ginseng, including some of the world’s foremost aging and longevity
researchers.
Because ginseng supposedly strengthens all the body’s organs and makes them more resistant to disease, it has been given credit for curing almost every illness under the sun, from cancer to impotence. While you have the testimony of millions of people who’ve trusted ginseng with their health for several thousand years, scientists still have trouble nailing down exactly what, if anything, ginseng does.
Precisely because so many health claims are made for ginseng, it’s hard for Western science to take herb seriously. In fact, many Western researchers still insist that there is very little credible research to back up the claims despite the 3,000 scientific studies that have been done on ginseng in the past 50 years.
Many researchers are also skeptical because ginseng seems to produce no
specific effects, treating instead a wide range of conditions. For the most part, Western doctors still believe that any benefits of ginseng come from the placebo effect. In other words, they think it works wonders because the person taking it believes it.
In contrast, Chinese medicine rates ginseng as one of its most potent healers. Traditionally, the Chinese classify their drugs into three categories: inferior, middle, and superior. Inferior drugs have specific effects for specific conditions. This is exactly the type of drug Western researchers dream about and love to discover or invent. In the Chinese system, middle drugs strengthen body function. Superior drugs work for everything, and it is into this category that Chinese doctors place ginseng.
In Eastern medicine, ginseng is considered an adaptogen. This means it works to keep the body in balance in all circumstances, bad or good. An adaptogen also increases the body’s resistance to unhealthy influences. It works only when needed or when the body has a deficiency. Since ginseng does contain antioxidants, it may be those compounds that give ginseng its body-balancing abilities. Researches also suspect it’s ginseng’s antioxidant activities that cha help protect your heart, liver, and lungs.
Years back, United States Department of Agriculture scientists discovered that the mineral chromium works in a way similar to an adaptogen, by raising and lowering blood sugar as needed. It’s very possible a number of foods and nutrients work only as needed, which gives 20th-century credibility to the ancient health claims made for ginseng.