Abstract
Background: Many studies that use food containing Panax genus plants (PGPs) have been conducted but most of them have not mentioned the effective compounds ginsenosides and their composition. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of time to exhaustion as an index of exercise endurance with ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides to reveal their effects. Methods: We performed a systematic review with a comprehensive and structured literature search using seven literature databases, four clinical trial databases, and three general web search engines during 15–22 March 2021. A random-effects model was applied to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) as the difference between the mean in the treatment and placebo groups. We evaluated the risk of bias of individual studies along with the risk of bias tool in the Cochrane handbook. This study was funded by Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (Hiroshima, Japan). The protocol for this study was registered with the UMIN-CTR (No. UMIN000043341). Results: Five studies met the inclusion criteria. The number of total participants was 90, with 59 in the ingestion-PGPs group and 64 in the control group, because three studies were crossover-design trials. We found that ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides significantly improved exercise endurance (SMD [95% CI]: 0.58 [0.22–0.95], I2 = 0%). It was suggested that ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1) and PGPs extract containing Rg1 were significantly effective in improving exercise endurance (SMD [95% CI]: 0.70 [0.14–1.27], I2 = 30%) by additional analysis. Conclusions: This systematic review suggests that the ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides, especially Rg1, is effective in improving exercise endurance in healthy adults. However, further high-quality randomized controlled trials are required because imprecision and publication bias cannot be ignored in this systematic review.
Highlights
IntroductionOther statistics and estimations reported that China, Korea, the United States, and Canada produced most of the fresh ginseng; over 80,000 tons of ginseng were distributed worldwide [3]
This systematic review was conducted with the research question “Does ingestion of plant extracts of Panax genus or ginsenoside improve exercise endurance of participants who have no problems with motor and metabolic functions”, and the participant, intervention, comparison, and outcomes (PICOS) criteria
A systematic review by Hoang et al [7] concluded that ingestion of P. ginseng or P. notoginseng has no effect on exercise, but the components of ginsenoside were not mentioned and considered in the review in almost all included studies
Summary
Other statistics and estimations reported that China, Korea, the United States, and Canada produced most of the fresh ginseng; over 80,000 tons of ginseng were distributed worldwide [3] It is one of the well-known plant materials used in health products. Many studies that use food containing Panax genus plants (PGPs) have been conducted but most of them have not mentioned the effective compounds ginsenosides and their composition. It was suggested that ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1) and PGPs extract containing Rg1 were significantly effective in improving exercise endurance (SMD [95% CI]: 0.70 [0.14–1.27], I2 = 30%) by additional analysis. Conclusions: This systematic review suggests that the ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides, especially Rg1, is effective in improving exercise endurance in healthy adults. Further high-quality randomized controlled trials are required because imprecision and publication bias cannot be ignored in this systematic review
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