Ginseng, known as the King of Herbs, is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant that has long been used to boost body health for over a thousand years. It is one of the widely used medicinal herbs widely used in foods, nutritional, and pharmacological industries. Red Panax ginseng or Korean red ginseng is greatly popular among consumers because this ginseng is known for its high quality.
People like to attach the value of ginseng to its growth years. It is reasonable because the older the ginseng, the higher ginsenosides content it has, and the ginsenosides are the pharmacologically valuable ingredients that largely contribute to the health benefits of ginseng.
What is the best ginseng?
There are naturally occurring ginsenosides in ginseng, and they are called major ginsenosides. Minor ginsenosides (known as rare ginsenosides) are rarely in ginseng and they are converted from naturally occurring ginsenosides via unique processing. For example, red ginseng is heated and steamed to increase rare ginsenoside Rg3. Rare ginsenosides are low-molecular-weight and thus have high bioactivity and bioavailability, compared to naturally occurring ones in ginseng.
Ginseng with different ginsenosides as active ingredients
The extraction and conversion of rare ginsenosides are faced with technological challenges, so it is difficult to obtain rare ginsenosides in mass production. In the current market, only a few companies can produce rare ginsenosides, as a result, there are only a few products featuring rare ginsenosides, and a majority of ginseng products contain only total ginsenosides.
Because ginseng is a small niche, most big nutritional and supplement companies don’t invest much in ginseng research and development, so the best ginseng supplements usually don’t come from these big names, but are developed by newly emerging companies that have made a breakthrough in ginsenoside research. These rare ginsenoside products might not be distributed in your countries, so online shopping is a good choice.
Best ginseng with rare ginsenosides
We list the ginseng companies and brands that focus on rare ginsenosides. They are top-tire in the ginseng industry for their innovative technologies in producing rare ginsenosides.
1. Redsenol Rare Ginsenosides
Redsenol is an innovative pioneer in the rare ginsenoside field. When most manufacturers develop ginseng products with total ginsenoside content, Redsenol features multi-component less polar rare ginsenosides that are more super bioactive and absorbable.
Redsenol is reputed for its highly bioactive rare ginsenosides. Manufactured in Canada, the Redsenol series, Redsenol-1 and Redsenol dag contain high amounts of rare ginsenosides. The company has unique technologies in rare ginsenoside extraction and biotransformation. Panax ginseng is first steamed to increase ginsenosides amount and then prototype ginsenosides are metabolized in unique biotransformation procedures into less polar rare ginsenoside. Each Redsenol capsule has 60 mg of rare ginsenoside Rg3, Rh2, Rk1, Rh3, aPPD, etc, accounting for 20% ginsenosides.
The Redsenol team is led by Dr. Yu Peihua, holding a Ph.D. degree in synthetic chemistry. Dr. Yu is specialized in the research on the extraction and bio-transformation of pharmacologically valuable ingredients from natural medicinal herbs. The other research members have rich experience in the nutritional and pharmaceutical fields.
2. BTGIN Rg3 300
BTGIN is a Korean red ginseng brand. BTGIN has many product lines with different types of products for different groups of people.
One highlight for BTGIN Rg3 300 is that the product features enzymatic red ginseng that has better absorption and bioavailability. BTGIN features more bioactive rare ginsenoside Rg3. The supplement has 2.5% rare ginsenoside Rg3.
It should be noted that CheonKwanJang might contain rare ginsenosides. CheonKwanJang is one of the best-known Korean red ginseng. The brand is well-established for using 6-year-old ginseng as raw material and then processed into red ginseng by heating and steaming. It is typical red ginseng that has about 32 kinds of ginsenosides. However, CheonKwanJang doesn’t list the standardized ginsenoside content in the label, so it is unclear whether it contains rare ginsenosides or not.
Best ginseng with total ginsenosides
Big nutrition companies also manufacture ginseng supplements, while they don’t go deep in ginsenoside extraction technologies, and their ginseng products feature total ginsenosides. Total ginsenosides predominantly consist of major ginsenosides so total ginsenosides are less bioactive and absorbable.
1. Ginsana G115 ginseng extract
Standardization for herbal medicine is meaningful because a standardized product with defined raw materials and extraction process ensures the quality, safety, and efficacy of the products. The quality of ginseng depends on its ginsenoside content. Ginsana G115 ginseng extract is the first ginseng extract to be standardized with 4% of major ginsenosides in 1961 in Switzerland.
Compared to another ginseng extract with total ginseng, Ginsana G115 is an accredited and reliable one because it has been used in preclinical and clinical studies over decades, proving its quality, purity, safety, and efficacy. Ginsana G115 ginseng extract is sold globally, and in some countries, it is even licensed over-the-counter medicine.
Ginsana G115 is not available on Amazon and Walmart, and you need to email Ginsana team members to know where to purchase Ginsana G115 for its distributors since they are available in selected countries.
2. Jamieson Korean red ginseng
Jamieson Korean red ginseng was standardized to 20% total ginsenosides. One bottle has 100 caplets in total and each caplet contains 55 mg of Korean red ginseng extract.
Jamieson is one of the top vitamins, minerals, and supplement companies in Canada. It is reputable for its promise of using pure and quality ingredients. Their products are sold worldwide to 45 countries.
3. Ginseng by Nature’s Bounty
Nature’s Bounty is a trusted nutrition company. As a global leader in health and wellness, it offers a variety of natural health products.
Nature’s Bounty develops ginseng complex capsules that combine many types of ginseng like Panax ginseng extract ( standardized up to 2% ginsenosides), American ginseng extract (standardized up to 5% ginsenosides), Chinese red ginseng extract (standardized up to 2% ginsenosides), and royal jelly concentrate with vitamin B-12.
4. NutraChamps Korean Red Panax Ginseng
NutraChamps Korean Red Panax Ginseng is one of the best sellers in ginseng supplements on Amazon. It contains at least 5% ginsenosides. One serving is about 1650 mg of red ginseng, so you can enjoy 82 mg of total ginsenosides daily.
NutraChamps is a Canadian nutritional supplement company in Toronto, Ontario. Ontario is home to American ginseng.
5. NutriFlair Korean Red Panax Ginseng
Like NutraChamps, NutriFlair Korean red Panax ginseng takes 1600 mg per serving and it is a 2-month supply. It contains at least 5% ginsenosides. It is free from allergens including gluten, dairy, soy and friendly to vegan people.
6. HMS Organic Korean Red Panax Ginseng
HMS Organic Korean Red Panax Ginseng has a higher serving of 2000 mg of Korean red Panax ginseng daily, and it can serve 40 days. It is standardized to contain 5% total ginsenosides.
There are many ginseng supplements containing total ginsenosides, while rare ginsenoside brands are few. We did the research and offered the lists based on the information available on Google, so there might be more best ginseng brands that haven’t been included here.