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eCAM Advance Access published online on January 3, 2008
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem178
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© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Ginseng on Hyperglycemia: Effects and Mechanisms

John Zeqi Luo1 and Luguang Luo2

1PLME Department of Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 and 2The Center for Stem Cell Biology, Department of Research, Roger Williams Hospital, Providence RI 02908, USA

It has been reported that American ginseng attenuates hyperglycemia and may present itself as a supplement to diabetes therapy. However, the lack of standardization in the usage of ginseng root leads to inconclusive results when applied to diabetes treatment. The mechanisms of American ginseng root in the treatment of diabetes remains a mystery. This greatly limits the effective utilization of American ginseng in facilitating diabetic therapy. Initiating studies have shown that American ginseng increases insulin production and reduces cell death in pancreatic β-cells. Also, studies have revealed American ginseng's ability to decrease blood glucose in type II diabetes patients as well as in streptozotocin-induced diabetic animals (STZ-diabetic mice). These data suggest that effects of ginseng in improving hyperglycemia may alter mitochondrial function as well as apoptosis cascades to ensure cell viability in pancreatic islet cells. This review briefly summarizes current knowledge of ginseng components and clinical studies related to diabetes. Further research will be needed to explore and identify the component(s) of ginseng, which may be responsible for the beneficial effects observed in animal studies which could then be extrapolated to human islets.

Keywords: ginseng – blood glucose – STZ diabetic animals – apoptosis – UCP-2

For reprints and all correspondence: Dr Luguang Luo, The Center for Stem Cell Biology, Department of Research, Roger Williams Hospital, Boston University, Medical School, 825 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence, RI 02908, USA. Tel: +1-401-456-5344; Fax: +1-401-456-5759; E-mail: Lluo{at}rwmc.org

Received July 5, 2007; accepted August 6, 2007


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