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Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus). Siberian ginseng, one of the most remarkable of adaptogenic plants, has a wide range of uses and very low toxicity. There has been a great deal of excellent clinical and laboratory research conducted in the Soviet Union, where Professor Brehkman and his team have been studying the herb for over 30 years. Largescale clinical trials have been undertaken on both healthy and sick people with more than 1,000 published research papers devoted to its application, the mechanism of action and investigation of its active principles.
Pharmacological research suggests that the active principle of the adaptogenic plantsthe eleutherosides from Siberian ginseng and the panaxosides from ginsengare saponin glycosides which increase the general nonspecific resistance of the body to a whole range of diverse chemical, physical, psychological and biological factors. Its safety and ability to increase the resistance of the normal human body to extreme conditions make Siberian ginseng a remedy of great importance.
Studies on Siberian ginseng provide some of the best clinical trials done on herbal medicines so far. Large numbers of people including control groups were involved in these studies. Between 1973 and 1975, 1,200 drivers from the Volga automobile plant were given 8 to 12 mg of Siberian ginseng extract daily with tea for two months each year in the spring and autumn. By the end of the experiment illness among the drivers had decreased by 20 to 30 percent, while the total disease incidence among other workers at the plant increased by 20 percent. Based on these results, the authorities at the factory undertook a mass program of preventive medicine with the herb in the winter of 1975. It was included in the diet as Siberian ginseng sugar at a per day dose of 2 ml. Altogether, 13,096 persons were engaged in the experiment. The overall disease incidence dropped by 30 to 35 percent as compared to a control group that did not use the remedy.

 
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