SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In a noteworthy revelation at the Korean Society of Ginseng conference held in Seoul last October, red ginseng has gained attention for significantly improving dependency caused by drug addiction. Prof. Oh Sei-kwan from Ewha Womans University College of Medicine found that the consumption of red ginseng reduces both physical and psychological dependency induced by drug addiction and greatly improves withdrawal symptoms. With the global issue of drug addiction becoming increasingly serious, this research result garners even more anticipation.
According to the "World Drug Report 2023," the number of drug users worldwide increased by 23.3% from ten years ago, reaching 296 million in 2021. Despite being a medical analgesic, Fentanyl, commonly referred to as "zombie drug," has now infiltrated even among adolescents, which is a worrisome development. In the absence of a clear cure for the escalating harms of drug addiction, the study on the effects of red ginseng in improving drug dependency is noteworthy.
Prof. Oh's research team, through experiments on mice, confirmed that the experiment group consuming red ginseng showed a 50% reduction in leap behaviors indicating physical dependency compared to the control group during morphine administration. In the conditioned place preference test for evaluating psychological dependency, the red ginseng group scored about three times lower than the control group, significantly reducing psychological dependency caused by drug addiction.
In addition, the study revealed a link between red ginseng and detoxification in the liver. Glutathione in the liver, involved in detoxification, showed recovery in the red ginseng group, which had decreased due to morphine addiction, indicating an approximately 90% effectiveness compared to the control group.
The impact of red ginseng on improving liver function has been consistently studied. In October, at the academic conference of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition held in Busan, significant research results on the improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by red ginseng were presented. Human trials with 94 patients confirmed that the consumption of red ginseng regulated gut microbiota, increasing beneficial bacteria and reducing harmful bacteria, thereby improving damaged livers.
This study scientifically proves the usefulness of red ginseng in treating drug addiction and confirms its potential as a natural treatment for substance dependency, marking an important milestone.
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