Written by Jessica Patella, ND. Study concluded that Korean Red Ginseng was shown to help improve physical fatigue after exercise.
The human body can undergo intense states of stress during physical exercise. To prevent injury the body can reach a state of fatigue, yet fatigue is a multi-factor phenomenon of the body1. Researchers are trying to understand how fatigue occurs and how supplements may play a role. Recently, Korean Red Ginseng has been shown in human trials to relieve physical fatigue from exercise1,2.
Korean Red Ginseng contains ginsenosides, an active ingredient that has been researched in animals. The research has shown ginsenosides in Korean Red Ginseng can increase the reserve of muscle and liver glycogen in rats, while reducing lactic acid accumulation. Ginsenosides also appear to increase dopamine and acetylcholine in the hypothalamus of rats, which helps with mental exercise capacity1,2.
The recent research included 110 participants that were randomly assigned to either the Korean Red Ginseng group (n=54, avg age 51.08 +/- 12.03 years) or a placebo group (n=53, avg age 53.02 +/- 9.54 years). Participants took either ginseng or the placebo 3 capsules, twice daily with warm water for 8-weeks (0.465g/cap). After supplementation participants underwent an exercise induced fatigue test using a power bicycle. The testing started with a warm-up at 25-watts and increased at 50-watt intervals until 80% of max heart rate (195-age) was reached for the participant.
The results were as follows:
- After 8-weeks of supplementation subjective physical strength rating scale was significantly lower in the Korean Red Ginseng group than placebo (P<0.01), indicating less physical strength was exerted.
- After the exercise trial, blood lactic acid content was significantly lower in the Korean Red Ginseng group than the placebo group (P<0.05)
- After the exercise trial, creatine phosphokinase content was significantly lower in the Korean Red Ginseng group than the placebo group (P<0.05)
- There was no change in cortisol, indicating Korean Red Ginseng may not affect cortisol content in the body.
- There were no adverse side effects from taking Korean Red Ginseng
In conclusion, Korean Red Ginseng was shown to help improve physical fatigue after exercise1. This was a relatively small study and was tested in a more middle-aged population. Future research should consider more participants, more age groups and more exercise testing throughout the trial.
Source: Zhang, Li, Xiaoyun Chen, Yanqi Cheng, Qilong Chen, Hongsheng Tan, Dongwook Son, Dongpill Chang, Zhaoxiang Bian, Hong Fang, and Hongxi Xu. “Safety and antifatigue effect of Korean Red Ginseng: a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trial.” Journal of ginseng research 43, no. 4 (2019): 676-683.
© 2021 The Korean Society of Ginseng. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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Posted January 4, 2023.
References:
- Yang Y, Wang H, Zhang M, et al. Safety and antifatigue effect of Korean Red Ginseng capsule: A randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Ginseng Res. Jul 2022;46(4):543-549. doi:10.1016/j.jgr.2021.09.001
- Genlan Y YZ, Liufeng O, Kexuan Z, Yunan Z. Genlan Y, Yaping Z, Liufeng O, Kexuan Z, Yunan Z. Research progress on anti-fatigue effect of ginseng. J Chem Inf Model 2015;10:1174e7. J Chem; 2015.
