Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Here are the details on the product. It contains distilled water and red Chinese ginseng in a honey base. (It is bitter in taste.) The ginseng is grown at Mt. Chang Bai [sic] according to the package. (The Changbai Mountains are a major mountain range in NE Asia and extends into North Korea.) Each 10 cc vial has 6000 mg of Red Panax Kirin and Shih Chu Ginseng Roots standardized to 25 mg active ginsenosides. Ginsenosides are a class of steroid glycosides and triterpene saponins found only in the plant genus Panax. The package states that 12-year-old roots are used. (Note, in this case this means very little, as when the old roots are small or of poor quality, then they will not be very potent. Basically, the front of the box contains a “beautiful marketing” description, and the back of the box has the real story.) My guess is they are using---and this just speculation on my part---fragments of cut ginseng roots and root hairs to get the cost down as well as using mostly Kirin ginseng. (Red Panax kirin [sic] is listed before Shih Chu Ginseng.) The only number in this case that matters is the 25 mg of active ginsenosides per vial. Since we do not know what ginsengosides were used to standardize the product, it is hard to know the specific pharmacological effect of this product, we only know the product is warming and will weakly tonify the qi. (It is Chinese ginseng that was processed to make it red Chinese ginseng as opposed to white Chinese ginseng.) Consider, there are 25 mg of ginsenosides per 6000 mg of root, meaning 0.417 percent active ingredients. This is very low, or about one fifth to one tenth of decent quality ginseng. This is not surprising, and to be expected, given the low cost. This works out to 30 x 6 = 180 grams of ginseng used, or 0.396 pounds of ginseng root for $14.18. Given all the packaging, shipping costs and markup, it means the ginseng likely cost the manufacturer less than $15 a pound. The four pack which is 120 vials for about $39 is a better deal. Briefly, and somewhat simplistically, (there are over 30 grades of ginseng, for example), there are three major types of Chinese ginseng: 1) Yi Sun Ginseng: young wild ginseng transplanted into forest beds; this is very expensive; 2) Shih Chu Ginseng: cultivated ginseng of superior stock that is graded by the size of the roots; 3) Kirin [=Jilin]: the lowest grade, typically used in patent medicines. The highest quality ginseng is found in North Korea, as the Korean Peninsula has the ideal climate for growing ginseng. The best value is likely from American ginseng, as the price is good, and the quality is generally pretty good as well. American ginseng is cooler than Chinese red ginseng or Korean red ginseng and also tonifies the lungs. (In general, Korean red is the hottest and most yang type of ginseng.)