AHP Releases American Ginseng Monograph

The American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP; Scotts Valley, CA) has made available quality control standards and therapeutic data for American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.), a popular dietary supplement for the U.S. dietary supplement market. The AHP monograph details methods of analysis for ensuring authenticity of American ginseng, photographs and images to help identify the botanical, safety and pharmacological data, structure and function claims, dosages, and more.

Monographs are all the more important with American ginseng, a botanical ingredient whose authenticity is often compromised in today’s market, according to AHP executive director Roy Upton:

We have found [American ginseng] leaf material marketed as root, exhausted marc being sold as crude root, and materials cut with 45% dicalcium phosphate. Suppliers should know if the price is too good to be true it probably is not good material. The monograph provides all the characterizations that any quality control team requires for making an authentic and quality product.

The American ginseng monograph can be purchased at the AHP’s website.