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| China has been cultivating American ginseng to tap into the American ginseng trade within China, Asia and now USA. According to wholesalers and traditional medicine practitioners, the appearance and exterior texture of China grown American ginseng looks like the real Panax quinquefolius. But the interior root is of dark woody color compares to the pale beige color of true American ginseng grown in North America. More critically, these wannabe American ginseng roots display neither the "cooling" nor "warming" effects of true American ginseng and Chinese/Korean ginseng respectively. They sell for the same price as the true American ginseng, but they are the knock-off from China. According to traditional medicine practitioners, consuming these China grown American ginseng can lead to many unpleasant side effects. Consequently, they cost you money and more importantly your health. Read on to find out what you can do to avoid being cheated. |
True or Fake Ginseng -- Updated
Back in the late 19th century, the increase popularity of ginseng (genus: Panax), including Asian (Chinese and Korean) and American ginseng, was explosive as an alternative and herbal medicine. They had since gained wide acceptance in most American homes. With the combinations of increase popularity, price, sale volume, and wider acceptance of ginseng, fraud in all possible forms arise to an alarming level. Consumer frauds ranges from products with little or no ginseng ingredients to fake ginseng products.
Under the unregulated market at that time, many fake ginseng producers sell all forms of products (tea, powder, capsules, etc.) with "ginseng" listed under their ingredients. What are these fake ginseng pretenders? You ask. Well, these products include:
- Eleutherococcus senticosus (promoted as Siberian ginseng)
- Pfaffia paniculate (promoted as Brazilian, Suma or South American ginseng)
- Rumex hymenosepalus (a.k.a. Tannis dock and carniagre. Promoted as wild red ginseng)
- Echinopanax horridum (promoted as Alaska or Devil's club ginseng) (Oplopanax horridum)
- Aralia nudicaulis (a.k.a. wild Sarsaparilla)
- Withiania somnifera (a.k.a. Ashwagandha. Promoted as Indian or Ayurvedic ginseng)
- Lepidium meyenii (promoted as ginseng of the Andes)
The true ginseng was classified with the botanical genus (name) Panax, from ancient Greek, meaning "all healing" (panacea, or pan [all] + akos [cure]). There are only two true species of ginseng in the world. The Asian variety is Panax ginseng (a.k.a. Chinese and Korean ginseng), and the American variety is Panax quinquefolius (a.k.a. American ginseng).
In 1982, the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin was established as non-profit organization. Its mission is to promote Wisconsin ginseng nationally and internationally, to educate producers and consumers, to encourage more scientific research of the nutritional and health benefits of ginseng, and lastly to promote the Wisconsin Seal Program. To all consumer like you and I, the Wisconsin Seal emblem sticker on any ginseng product indicates that the product is contain only 100% pure Wisconsin American ginsengs and free off or very minimal amount of any nasty chemical residues.
To further protect consumers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently defined the term "ginseng" in any ingredient list. Only the ginseng wihtin the Panax genus are permitted to be labeled as "Ginseng". Any marketer, producer and manufacturer who list "ginseng" in the product without Panax ginseng or Panax quinquefolius (American ginseng) may face charges from the FDA.
Printed with the consent of the author
This portion is taken from the article "Buyer's Guide on How to Buy Quality Ginseng"
by Meng Wong
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