Types of Ginseng and their uses

Since there's been some discussion of Ginseng and different types, can someone tell me all the names of the Ginsengs, and whether they are warming or cooling, or?

Hate to just buy whatever's on sale at my herb store, and the FDA won't allow them to give advice anymore - the creeps!

BTW for all who responded to my Hepatitis help page, thanks. I'm feeling much better now, thanks to licorice and colloidal silver. I just started training in forms again, and it's almost like I never left!

Take THAT, western "medicine"! :D

To my knowledge all Ginseng is tonifying/warming, just different strains are more potent than others. But as a rule Ginseng is generally considered to be a Yang herb.

Isnt Ginseng soaked in Brandy or something??

Tae Li;)

As I understand it there are two types of Ginseng, Chinese and Siberian. The Siberian is suppost to be less likely to overstimulate then the Chinese.

The Siberian is good for helping the appetite, solves problems with diarrhea and is suppost to have some benefit with arthritis.

The Chinese is stonger and can help the body cope with stress/recovery as well as agitation & poor concentration. Its also suppost to be an aphrodisiac for men.

As I have mentioned before this isnt a herb I use due to high BP so I have had to delve into a book or two to find out more. I would be grateful if anyone could let me know if there are other types.

All the best African Tiger (thanks for raising the question)

Outcast

Ginseng is used for a number of reasons like regulating your heartbeat, blood pressure, blood sugar, many cerebral functions, digestion and countless others.

The red variety is more potent and aggresive and should be used in winter, while the white should be used in summer and warmer or tropical climates. The dosage of 500 to 3,000 mg per day are recommended.

Its called renshen in chinese, it is a warm energy as repulsive monkey said but there are several varities as opposed to outcast's posts like koren and the strongest amercian so dont limit yourself to only 1 or 2 types.

I recomend you take small amount daily for this is the only way to reap the benfiets from it. Generally speaking if you take mass amounts spratically it will have little or no effect on the body.
Stay away from coffe, tea, soya beans and turnips and such for they will have a negitive counter effect.

hope this helps.... PS you can buy the whole root for around $20.00 for some strong tonic, stay away from the pre-made bottles.....

I take 2 mancurian 500mg tablets daily, but have only done this for about a week now, I was hoping to reduce this to just one tablet daily. Problem is Soya beans tend to be my main source of protein as I am a vegetarian.
Would the advice be to carry on with the 2 tablets daily seeing as I use soya bean products, or am I wasting my time taking the two together?
I train really hard at the moment at hurt pretty much all the time, and haven't really seen an improvement, but I do understand these things take time :D

The ginsengs kicked in now, and I am thankful, any thoughts on wether I should reduce the amount I take now?

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Recently I've been cutting weight for a tournament, which for me has meant giving up coffee (I know coffee has no calories, but I love cream and sugar in it) So I've been drinking a whole lot of tea. My friend's chinese medicine store sells American ginseng in teabags (for $.25).

What are the health benefits of American Ginseng vs Korean vs Siberian?

I'm looking more for researched scientific findings over "one raises yang qi and the other yin" type answers.


Thanks
b-tree

edit: I probably should have used the search function but I'm lazy.

American and Korean/Chinese are very similar. The Chinese/Korean (Panax) vairety is basically much more tonicy, where as the American Ginseng is not so much so, but retians the same or simillar levels of adaptagenic qualities.

Siberian Ginseng is not Ginseng at all, but some sort of shrub. It is more stimulateing, and I believe less adaptagenic.

I used to use the Chinese stuff just prior to practice to boost me so I trained harder, and then the American after to help with recovery.

None of that does any good if you are really tired though. Infact i have found that Ginseng actually makes me MORE sleepy if I am really tired, or burnt out. I recouperate faster, but it knockes me out almost as if i took some sort of sleep aid.

Thanks for the reply!