ABSTRACT
Ginseng is a traditional herbal medicine widely used in China and other Asian countries for hundreds of years. Among Chinese herbs, ginseng has been considered a tonic, used to improve physical condition and to prolong life, presumably by preventing or delaying the onset of various chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes (Yun 2003). Epidemiological studies suggest that ginseng is a chemopreventive agent against a variety of cancer types, including cancer of the lip, oral cavity/ pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, pancreas, laryngis, lung, and ovary (Yun 2003). Users of ginseng had decreased cancer risk compared to nonusers, and the decrease greatly depended on the frequency of ginseng intake (Yun and Choi 1990). A large cohort study with 4634 adults (2362 men, 2272 women) over 40 years of age showed that ginseng users had a decreased cancer risk (relative risk [RR] = 0.40, 95% condence interval [CI]: 0.28-0.56) compared with nonusers (Yun and Choi 1998; Yun 2001). The general conclusion from these studies is that ginseng has nontoxic and non-organ-specic preventive effects against several types of cancer, including lung cancer.
