No Ergogenic Effects of Ginseng (Panax Ginseng C.A. Meyer) during Graded Maximal Aerobic Exercise

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Abstract

Objective To assess the effects of chronic supplementation with two different dosages of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer on physiologic and psychological responses during graded maximal aerobic exercise.

Design Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Subjects Thirty-six healthy men consuming an otherwise supplement-free diet who maintained their usual activity level.

Intervention A standardized P ginseng C.A. Meyer concentrate (G115) was added to the normal diet of study participants at a dosage level of either 200 or 400 mg/day, where 100 mg of the preparation is equivalent to 500 mg P ginseng root.

Main outcome measures Submaximal and maximal aerobic exercise responses before and after an 8-week trial intervention.

Statistical analyses performed Analysis of variance.

Results Thirty-one subjects completed the study. Supplementation with ginseng had no effect on the following physiologic and psychological parameters: oxygen consumption (mL/kg per minute), respiratory exchange ratio, minute ventilation (L/min), blood lactic acid concentration (mmol/L), heart rate (beats/min), and perceived exertion (P>.05).

Conclusions Our data in healthy men do not offer support for claims that P ginseng C.A. Meyer is an ergogenic aid to improve submaximal and maximal aerobic exercise performance. J Am Diet Assoc. 1997;97:1110–1115.

Section snippets

Subjects

Thirty-six healthy men were recruited from several professional programs at the university and from a local YMCA. Before admission to the study, each subject underwent medical screening and was found to be in good health. An initial educational session explained the expectations of the researchers for participants in the study. Each subject consented not to change his usual habitual physical activity level throughout the study and to maintain his normal diet without taking any dietary

Subjects

Of the 36 healthy men who took part in this research, 5 were unavailable for the posttest: 2 (both from the placebo group) were sick, 1 (from the low-dosage ginseng group) had an injury unrelated to the treatment, and 2 (both from the high-dosage ginseng group) failed to meet the research expectations regarding compliance with the study procedures. Thus, final analyses were performed based on complete measurements obtained from 31 subjects.

The high-dosage ginseng group tended, on average, to be

Discussion

The primary finding of this study was that supplementation with a standardized preparation of P ginseng C.A. Meyer at two different dosage levels (200 and 400 mg/day of G115) failed to affect selected physiologic and psychological responses during graded maximal exercise. Chronic ginseng intake was not associated with a change in oxygen use and an improvement of aerobic work capacity. Our study population consisted of healthy men who maintained their habitual physical activity level and

Applications

Dietitians play an integral role in the dissemination of accurate and appropriate information about food and nutrition research. The relevance of our observations to them is that popular clinical and testimonial claims that suggest that P ginseng C.A. Meyer has important ergogenic properties for improving aerobic exercise performance could not be supported experimentally. Nevertheless, given that the available research literature on the possible effects of this enigmatic plant is still

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