Ginseng a natural anti-inflammatory?
Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the immunological effects of ginseng. The researchers have now shown that the herb, much used in traditional Chinese medicine and other Asians, has anti-inflammatory.Only, the researchers could test the effects of ginseng extract immune holistic using sophisticated purification technologies to identify voters and define their bioactivity using genomics and bioactivity assays. After that, they reconstituted back into a whole extract with definable individual ginsenosides for re-confirmation of effects. This opens a potentially vigorous approach to the study of medicinal plants with the state of the art technology.
Allan Lau led a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong who identified seven ginseng constituents, ginsenosides, that showed immunosuppressive effects. He said: ‘The anti-inflammatory role of ginseng may be due to the combined effects of these ginsenosides, targeting different levels of immunological activity, and so contribute to the different actions of ginseng in humans.’
The scientists treated human immune cells with different extracts of ginseng. They found that the nine ginsenosides they identified, seven could selectively inhibit the expression of inflammatory CXCL-10 gene. Lau concludes: ‘Further studies are needed to examine the potential beneficial effects of ginsenosides in the management of acute and chronic inflammation in humans.’