Some people say, “While ginseng produced in the USA and Canada in North America cools down the body, Korean ginseng raises the body heat, even causing harm to people living in hot regions like Southeast Asia” “What does the so-called heat-raising function of Korean ginseng really mean?”

For this hot issue, we hereby introduce 2 theses. The 1^st one is published by Professor Yongnam Han, Seoul National University of Pharmacy professor emeritus, and the 2^nd one is that has been done through some recent years by an international cooperative study and clinical trials among Korea, China and Vietnam.

Professor Han expressed, after through his 7-years of study and scientific clinical trials, “Neither Korean ginseng nor American ginseng change the body temperature of their eaters, but that people only experience a subjective feverish feeling when they eating it.” He explained, “This is much like how we feel warm and satisfied when we eat boiled rice.” He added, “This feverish feeling is generated by the activation of metabolism due to ginseng. As such, clinical trials on ginseng proved that the body temperature as it was before taking ginseng and that only the blood flow and speed are increased.” 

The second one, the project was exercised in order to prove that even people living in hot weather country, Vietnam, summer day temperature raises up to 40˚C taking ginseng will not bring harm at all. 172 people were divided 4 groups, each 43 people, and each of 4 groups were administered starch, red ginseng, American ginseng and white ginseng for 3 months, and then everyday checked body temperature at after 30 min, 60 min and 120 min after dose. All the groups were shown the same on the body temperature and the surface body temperature. For virtue of metabolism increase, shooting far infrared radiation on body and, especially, hands, where peripheral blood vessels are mostly developed in human body, is shown more yellow and brighter than before taking Korean ginseng.

To say in addition, the saying “Korean ginseng raises body temperature and harm to people in hot weather countries” is a lie that some merchants for American ginseng made out and spread out for their business interest.

The detailed explanation and information for the entire above are you can refer to from the separately uploaded video file, “GINSENG ROOTS OF OLD AND FRIENDLY HERB MEDICINE”, at Literature Part of our homepage, www.k-ginseng.or.kr.

Meanwhile, G. Rg1, one of the major saponins of Korean red ginseng, is endogenous pyrogen, yet it has been proved in laboratory experiments that the saponin maintains homeostasis by inhibiting increase body temperature and behavioral disorders that occur when the body is placed in a high-temperature environment. The result may serve as scientific evidence to support Korea’s traditional way of consuming ginseng-taking in order to overcome heat in the summer, like to enjoy Sam gye tang(Ginseng Chicken Soup) or when energy level is low due to the heat.