Panax Ginseng Extract

The commodity grades are quoted on ginsenoside assay and on the method used to measure it, which matters because the two common methods give very different numbers. Extracts sold at 80 percent ginsenosides are measured by ultraviolet spectrophotometry against a colourimetric reaction, while extracts sold at 4, 7, 10 or 20 percent are measured by HPLC against individual reference standards. HPLC grades at 5 to 10 percent total ginsenosides are the ones normally accepted for European and North American supplement work.

Ratio extracts without a saponin claim are also traded, typically 4:1, 10:1 or 20:1 water or hydroalcoholic extracts, used where a whole-root profile rather than a marker level is wanted. Above these sit the enriched fractions: red ginseng extract standardised on Rg3, black ginseng and fermented ginseng extracts standardised on compound K or Rg3, and purified single ginsenosides at 90 percent and above for research and premium formulation. Physical forms run from spray dried powder, the volume grade, to soft fluid extract at 60 to 70 percent solids for jelly and drink work, and granulated or maltodextrin-carried grades for dry blending. Root part is also specified, since main root, lateral root and rootlet carry different saponin levels.

In the United States ginseng root has a long food history and is used as a beverage and food ingredient, while standardised extracts are marketed as dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, with manufacture under 21 CFR Part 111. Ginseng also appears on the Food and Drug Administration list of substances used as natural flavouring, and the agency has taken enforcement action against ginseng products making disease claims, so labelling language is the practical constraint rather than ingredient status.

In the European Union Panax ginseng root is a traditional food and is not treated as a novel food in its conventional dried or water-extracted forms, though highly concentrated or otherwise unconventional fractions can fall within the novel food Regulation depending on the specification. The European Medicines Agency has published a herbal monograph for ginseng root, which places some presentations in the traditional herbal medicinal product route rather than the food supplement route, and no ginseng health claim appears on the EU register of authorised claims. The European Pharmacopoeia carries a monograph for ginseng root and for ginseng dry extract, and these are the specifications most buyers reference. The World Health Organisation has also published a monograph on Radix Ginseng.