The first thing to assure everyone is that this is not botanically a ‘true’ Ginseng it is purely the ‘common name’. It grows in Siberia, Russia, China and Japan and is known for its ability to strengthen and give stamina by peoples from those countries for many hundreds of years. It has been used by Russian Cosmonauts and Olympic games contenders and is now much understood and a widely used plant for all manner of daily food strengthening qualities. It is classified as an adaptogen which means it stimulates, normalizes, re-regulates and enhances function in a non-specific way, yet causes no harm nor over-stimulates. It particularly affects our stress responses via the hypothalamic pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathoadrenal system. It also affects the immune systems via multiple metabolic pathways as well as the thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, pancreas, ovaries and testes. Almost no organ or system is not balanced and re-regulated by this ‘little and often’ food.
