There seems to be Ginseng Root in almost every “energy” drink these days. Its also being touted as the first choice for people to take if they are feeling a bit run down. There are a few things that people need to be aware of with Ginseng. Whilst it is a fabulous herb, used for centuries in China and other countries for its medicinal properties, it is not a herb that should be taken by just anyone. Traditionally Ginseng is said to be the herb for “old men” -really men over 70yrs old. As Ginseng is very hot and a strong Qi tonic, it is needed by old men who’s Qi is very weak and internal cold predominates. It is actually not a herb to given to women (only under rare circumstances), Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica) is the number one herb for women, as they are blood creatures, and Dang Gui is a fabulous herb to Tonify blood -It also taste great in soups and stir fries. Ginseng however, being such a powerful and hot herb, can actually be far too strong if taken when not needed. So why then aren’t people feeling feeling bad when taking all this Ginseng in their drinks and supplements? that brings me to the second point, quality. There are several types of Ginseng: American, Korean, Japanese. The reality of Ginseng is this, it only grows in the coldest harshest mountains in China and Japan and it takes 7-8yrs to cultivate. As a result, good quality Ginseng (mostly of the Japanese variety) is unbelievably expensive. So much so that many practitioners don’t even stock it, and use a milder version called Dang Shen instead. Therefore, if it takes 8yrs to grow, and costs so much, how are they able to put it in cheap drinks etc? I don’t believe that they actually can, or if they are then its a fast grown/poor quality variety, which means that it will be of very little health benefit, if any at all.
