. 2021 May 10;10(5):1030. doi: 10.3390/foods10051030

Table 3.

Anti-fatigue of P. ginseng in clinical trials.

Classification	Study Design	Participants (Total/Final)	Age (Years)	Placebo Group	Intervention Group	Effects on Fatigue	Reference
Normal fatigue	Single-blind—7 days before exercise and 3 days after exercise	18/18 Male college students	19.9 ± 0.6 (placebo group) 20.2 ± 0.5 (red ginseng group)	200 mL × 0.02 g mL⁻¹ Agastachis Herba tea 3 times per day (n = 9)	200 mL × 0.1 g mL⁻¹ red ginseng extract 3 times per day (n = 9)	Decreased CK activity and IL-6 level Improved insulin sensitivity	Jung et al. [97].
	Double-blind—12 weeks	90/84 People with serum ALT level of 35–105 IU/L	43.52 ± 11.02	1.4 g d⁻¹ placebo	1.4 g d⁻¹ powder with 125 mg d⁻¹ fermented ginseng (low dose) 1.4 g d⁻¹ powder with 500 mg d⁻¹ fermented ginseng (high dose)	Decreased MFS scores	Jung et al. [98].
	Single-blind—30 days	21/21 Professional players	22 ± 3 (placebo group) 24 ± 5 (treatment group)	500 mg d⁻¹ placebo	500 mg d⁻¹ Korean ginseng powder	Increased testosterone level Increased 3-hydroxybutyrate, 9-hexadecenoic acid, suberyl glycine, ribose and 3 unknown metabolites levels Decreased glyoxylate, 3-methyl-2-hydroxybutyrate, mannose and myoinositol levels	Yan et al. [99].
	Double-blind—4 weeks	52/47 Healthy adults	60.1 ± 4.44 (placebo group) 62.1 ± 5.18 (treatment group)	Two placebo capsules twice a day	Two enzyme-modified ginseng extract capsules twice a day (2000 mg d⁻¹)	Decreased VAFS scores more No adverse effect	Lee et al. [100].
ICF	Double-blind—4 weeks	90/88 Adults with ICF	39.5 (median age, 20–60)	Four placebo capsules (250 mg each) twice a day	Four capsules (250 mg each) twice a day, 1 g P. ginseng totally Four capsules (250 mg each) twice a day, 2 g P. ginseng totally	Decreased VAFS scores and levels of ROS and MDA	Kim et al. [101].
CFS	Double-blind-treated for 6 weeks and followed up 4 weeks	50/47 Chronic fatigue patients	47.09 ± 10.80 (placebo group) 49.00 ± 8.35 (treatment group)	3 g d⁻¹ placebo	3 g d⁻¹ Korean red ginseng powder	Attenuated VAFS scores, SRI-short form, BDI and EQ-5D 5 L, but no statistically decreasing	Sung et al. [102].
Cancer-related fatigue	Double-blind—4 weeks	127/112 Advanced cancer patients	61.0 (median age, 54.0–67.0)	400 mg d⁻¹ placebo twice a day	400 mg d⁻¹ P. ginseng twice a day	No statistically differences between the two groups	Yennurajalingam et al. [103].
	Single-blind—30 days	114/113 Nonmetastatic colon cancer patients	48.03 ± 10.56 (placebo group) 50.11 ± 10.46 (treatment group)	100 mg d⁻¹ placebo	100 mg d⁻¹ P. ginseng	Improved quality of life and appetite Ease pain	Pourmohamadi et al. [104].
	Double-blind—16 weeks	429/348 colorectal cancer patients	60 (median age, placebo group, 27–86) 60 (median age, treatment group, 29–84)	500 mg × 2 pills placebo twice a day	500 mg × 2 pills Korean red ginseng twice a day	Decreased BFI scores	Kim et al. [105].
Diseases-related fatigue	Double-blind—4 weeks	180/174 Asthenia syndrome volunteers	36.13 ± 11.35	Placebo capsules each day	1.8 g/3.6 g Korean red ginseng each day	Decreased fatigue self-assessment scores and TCM symptom scores No increased fire-heat symptom scores and abnormalities	Zhang et al. [106].
	Double-blind—3 months	52/52 multiple sclerosis patients	34.5 ± 8.9 (placebo group) 33.3 ± 7.5 (treatment group)	250 mg d⁻¹ placebo twice a day	250 mg d⁻¹ P. ginseng twice a day	Increased MSQOL scores Decreased MFIS scores	Etemadifar et al. [107].
	Single-blind—3 weeks	80/66 nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients	47.8 ± 14.9	3000 mg d⁻¹ placebo capsule	3000 mg d⁻¹ Korean red ginseng capsule	Increased serum adiponectin levels Decreased TNF-α levels in overweight patients	Hong et al. [108].