Red ginseng has played an important role in traditional Chinese and Korean medicine for centuries and for good reason. This extraordinary root is a powerful antioxidant that reduces inflammationStrengthens immune system, lowers blood sugar and increases energy levels. This medicinal root also has a positive effect on physical performance and improves cognitive abilities. With this in mind, red ginseng was the main subject of a recent study. Researchers have linked these to inhibiting lung cancer metastasis, enabling another incredible virtue of this mundane plant.
What are the benefits of red ginseng in the fight against lung cancer?
Researchers at the Korean Scientific Institute conducted the study, which has been available since January 2021. They found that two of red ginseng's active components, Rk1 and Rg5, confirmed anticancer properties against lung cancer metastasis. This discovery is due to the development of a new approach to the treatment of this root crop. The technique, called KMxG, uses the same principle as microwaves and increases the concentration of the root's three main active components by more than 20 times. This is Korean red ginseng, which is obtained when the root of the plant is dried by steaming. In contrast, Asian or white ginseng is one whose root is only used through cleaning and drying.
In lung cancer metastases, the cancer cells spread to other tissues and usually begin to grow there. For the purposes of their study, the scientists treated lung cancer cells with the two active ingredients from ginseng Rk1 and Rg5 mentioned above. However, the team also subjected these to KMxG technology beforehand. The results of this research showed that such compounds effectively inhibit various processes associated with cancer metastasis. Such conditions occur due to a lung cancer-related cytokine protein called TGF-β1. In addition, the authors believethis studythat the scientific findings could be useful in the development of cancer drugs from natural products.
