Eleutherococcus senticosus : Studies and effects

Abstract

Ginseng is one of the most popular herbal sup-plements in the world. It is a plant widely used in folk and traditional medicines for cardiovascular, immune, nervous and endocrine systems, and according to the researchers, it has the ability to increase the non-specific resistance state, which characterizes it as an adaptogenic substance. There are different species of ginseng, such as the American, Chinese, Korean and Japanese ginseng; the Korean species (Panax ginseng) is being used for thousands of years as a tonic, prophylactic and " restorative " agent, with power-ful antioxidant properties. For a long time, its use was empirical, because people used to beli-eve that it was a panacea that promoted longe-vity, with beneficial effects for the treatment of physical fatigues. Nowadays, the active compo-nents of Eleutherococcus senticosus are well described, however, there are no data on the quantity of a certain class of these secondary compounds produced in each species. Although the Eleutherococcus senticosus extract may con-tain several substances, including vitamins, mi-nerals, cellulose, and ethanol, the substances responsible for inducing various physiological responses are the eleutherosides (in the root) and ciwujianosides (in the leaf). As Eleutheroco-ccus senticosus receives great attention by show-ing that its active components can provide protec-tion against oxidative stress, among other bene-fits, contributing to health and the prevention and treatment of diseases, such as diabetes, can-cer, cardiovascular disease and inflammation. The purpose of this article is to describe the main, adverse and toxicological effects of Eleuthero-coccus senticosus recently related in the litera-ture.