title: No ergogenic effect of ginseng ingestion.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ginseng extract ingestion on physiological responses to intense exercise. Subjects performed a control ride (CN) on a cycle ergometer, followed by placebo (PL) and ginseng (GS) treatments. Ginseng was ingested as 8 or 16 mg/kg body weight daily for 7 days prior to trial GS. Venous blood was sampled for FFA, lactate, and glucose analyses. Due to similar findings for both dose groups, the subjects were considered as one group. Lactate, FFA, VO2, VE, and RPE increased significantly from 10 through 40 min. RER increased during the first 10 min of exercise and then remained stable, with no intertrial differences. Glucose did not vary significantly from 0 to 40 min or among treatments. RPE was significantly greater and time to exhaustion was significantly less during trial CN than PL or GS, while PL and GS trials were similar. The data indicated that with 1 week of pretreatment there is no ergogenic effect of ingesting the ginseng saponin extract.
authors.affiliation: Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine, North York, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: McLellan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klugerman
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zamecnik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D005894:Panax; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D012119:Respiration
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D019344:Lactic Acid