Table 3.

Direct effects of ginseng on the intestinal microbiome.

Compounds	Models	Significant Effects (p < 0.05)
American Ginseng Root Polysaccharides	Antibiotic-associated Diarrhea in Rats (Lincomycin Hydrochloride)	Increased production of acetate and propionate, improved the relative richness of Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, and reduced the relative richness of Blautia and Coprococcus [83]
Korean Ginseng	Healthy Mouse Model	Increased total bacterial count and Lactobacillus count [93]
Ginsenoside Rk3	High-fat diet Mouse Model	Increased abundance of Bacteroides and Bifidobacteria, decreased abundance of Firmicutes [94]
25-hydroxyl-protopanaxatriol	High-fat diet Mouse Model with streptozotocin	Partly reversed an increase in Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio, increased relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae [106]
Fermented Wild Ginseng root	Antibiotic-associated diarrhea mouse model	Increased recovery of total bacteria counts after antibiotic treatment. Increased recovery of Lactobacillus murinus, Bifidobacterium, Enterobacteriaceae bacterium, and Enterococcus faecium [107]
Ginsenoside Rh2	T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia mouse model	Increased abundance of Bacteroides and Verrucomicrobia, decreased abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Increased relative abundance of Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, and Lachnospiraceae [95]
Korean red ginseng root insoluble fiber	In vitro colon-simulated fermentation using swine fecal bacteria	Increased production of short-chain fatty acids, decreased alpha-diversity, and increased relative abundance of Bifidobacterium and Prevotella compared to control fermentation with cellulose [108]
Fermented Korean Ginseng Root	Alcoholic injury mice (ethanol diet)	Prevented relative abundance loss of Akkermansia and Allobaculum. Decreased relative abundance of Parabacteroides [109]
Ginseng Root Polysaccharides (Unspecified variety)	Healthy Piglets with supplemented diet	Increased colonic acetic acid, isobutyric acid, and butyrate. Decreased abundance of Malainabacteria [110]
Water Soluble Neutral Ginseng Polysaccharides	Antibiotic-associated Diarrhea in Mice (Lincomycin Hydrochloride)	Increased abundance of Lactobacillus, decreased abundance of Bacteroides, Streptococcus, Ochrobactrum, and Pseudomonas [111]
Unspecified Ginseng Extracts (Article in Chinese)	Healthy Rats	Increased abundance of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, and Clostridium. Decreased abundance of Butyricimonas, Parabacteroides, Alistipes, and Helicobacter [112]
Korean Red Ginseng Root Polysaccharides and Ginsenoside Rb1	Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mouse Model	Polysaccharide treatment reversed the dysbiosis caused by the treatment, as evidenced by reversal of loss of relative abundance of Firmicutes and reversal of increase of the relative abundance of Bacteroides [113]
Ginseng Root Polysaccharides	DSS-induced Colitis Mouse Model	Reverses DSS-induced changes; increases abundance of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and the bacteria Clostridium leptum and Clostridium coccoides. Reduces abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and the bacterium Bacteroides fragilis [114]
Ginsenosides Rb3 and Rd	ApcMin/+ mice (colon cancer model)	Decreased abundance of Dysgonomonas, Porphyromonas, and Parabacteroides. Increased abundance of Prevotella and Paraprevotella (Rd only). Increased richness of family Bacteroidaceae; promoted growth of Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides xylanisolvens, Bacteroides gallinarum, and Bacteroides acidifiaciens [96]
American Ginseng Root	AOM/DSS intestinal inflammation and tumorigenesis mouse model	Gradual reversal of loss of alpha-diversity and beta-diversity following DSS treatment. Reversed increase in Bacteroidaceae, Porphyromonadaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Verrucomicrobiaceae, and reversed the decrease in Clostridiaceae, Catabacteriaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae [115]
Ginsenoside Rk3	DEN- and CCl4-induced Hepatocellular carcinoma mouse model	Reversed decrease in Bacteroidetes and increase in Firmicutes. Reversed decrease in Lachnospiraceae and Bifidobacteriaceae. Reversed increase in Ruminococcaceae. Reversed increase in Helicobacter and reversed the decrease in Akkermansia, Lactobacillus, Oscillibacter, and Bifidobacterium [97]
Korean Ginseng Root Polysaccharides	DSS-induced colitis in Mice	Restored loss of alpha diversity (Shannon Index). Reversed relative increase in Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes, Cyanobacteria, Prevotella and Deferribacteres and reversed loss of Firmicutes and Akkermansia [116]
Ginsenoside Rk3	Lincomycin-treated mice	Preserved Simpson, Shannon, ACE and Chao1 index at levels of control. Increased levels Bacillaceae, Bacteroidaceae and Prevotellaceae. Increased levels of Anaerostipes, Alloprevotella, Lachnoclostridium and Blautia. Decreased loss of acetic acid production, prevented decrease of propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and valeric acid production [98]
Ginseng Root Water-Soluble Extract (Unspecified Variety)	Exercise-Fatigue Mouse Model	Reversed relative loss of Bacteroidetes and reversed relative increase of Firmicutes. Increased Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, decreased Anaerotruncus. Reversed loss of Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus, Coprpcoccus, and Clostridium [117]
Protopanaxadiol-type Ginsenosides Extracted from Korean Ginseng Root	Human Fecal Microbiota In Vitro Fermentation	Increased relative abundance of Escherichia-Shigella, decreased relative abundance of Dorea, Prevotella, and Megasphaera. Increased abundance of Lachnospiraceae, Streptococcaceae… (Abridged) [118]
Korean Ginseng Root	Middle-Aged Korean Women with Obesity	Decreased relative abundance of Anaerostipes [119]
Korean Red Ginseng Root	Patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis	Increased Lactobacillus in subgroup who experienced improvements in ALT [120]
Ginsenoside Rg5	db/db diabetes mouse model	Reversed decrease in abundance of Alloprevotella, Barnesiella, Coprobacter, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Parasutterella, reversed increase in abundance of Oscillibacter, Clostridium, Helicobacter, and Dorea (abridged) [99]
Panax notoginseng saponins	Diet-induced obesity mice	Increased abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila and Parabacteroides distasonis [121]
Ginsenoside Rb1	Diet-induced obesity mice	Decreased Helicobacteraceae and Ruminococcaceae, and enriched Rikenellaceae. Decreased abundance of Dorea, Helicobacter and Oscillospira [122]
Panax Notoginseng saponins	Lepob mice on High-fat diet	Increased fecal acetic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, isobutyric acid, valeric acid and isovaleric acid [100]
Ginsenoside Rh4	Antibiotic intestinal inflammation mouse model	Decreased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio. Increased fecal acetic acid, butyric acid, propionic acid, isobutyric acid, valeric acid and isovaleric acid [101]
American ginseng polysaccharides and ginsenosides	Cyclophosphamide-Induced Intestinal Damage in Mice	The combination increased abundance of Clostridiales, Bifidobacterium, and Lachnospiraceae, and decreased abundance of Escherichia-Shigella and Peptococcaceae (reversing detrimental changes in microbiota). Polysaccharides and ginsenosides had different and synergistic effects [102]
Korean Ginseng polysaccharides and ginsenosides	Exhaustion by forced swimming and human hepatoma HepG2 cells xenograft	The combination reversed the changes in microbiota. Polysaccharides and ginsenosides had different and synergistic effects [123]
Ginsenosides	Human Fecal Microbiota In Vitro Fermentation	Increased relative abundance of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria and decreased relative abundance of Bacteroidetes. Increased abundance of Escherichia, Streptococcus and Ruminococcus. Decreased abundance of Dorea, Sutterella, Prevotella and Megasphaera [124]
Ginsenoside Rg1	DSS-induced colitis mouse model	Increased relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae and decrease of Staphylococcus, Bacteroide and Ruminococcaceae [103]
Korean Ginseng Ginsenosides	Mice on High-fat diet	Increased abundance of Parabacteroides, Muribaculaceae, Akkermansia, and Ruminococcus. Decreased abundance of Lachnospiraceae and Helicobacter [104]
Korean Ginseng	Healthy Rats	Increased abundance of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus [105]