Research & Development Division, Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., 1089-8 Sagata, Shinnichi-cho, Hiroshima 729-3102, Japan.
Faculty of Regional Environment Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 1-1-1 Sakuragaoka, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan.
Nutrients. 2022 Mar 11;14(6):1185. doi: 10.3390/nu14061185.
Many studies that use food containing Panax genus plants (PGPs) have been conducted but most of them have not mentioned the effective compounds ginsenosides and their composition. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of time to exhaustion as an index of exercise endurance with ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides to reveal their effects.
We performed a systematic review with a comprehensive and structured literature search using seven literature databases, four clinical trial databases, and three general web search engines during 15-22 March 2021. A random-effects model was applied to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) as the difference between the mean in the treatment and placebo groups. We evaluated the risk of bias of individual studies along with the risk of bias tool in the Cochrane handbook. This study was funded by Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (Hiroshima, Japan). The protocol for this study was registered with the UMIN-CTR (No. UMIN000043341).
Five studies met the inclusion criteria. The number of total participants was 90, with 59 in the ingestion-PGPs group and 64 in the control group, because three studies were crossover-design trials. We found that ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides significantly improved exercise endurance (SMD [95% CI]: 0.58 [0.22-0.95], I = 0%). It was suggested that ginsenoside Rg (Rg) and PGPs extract containing Rg were significantly effective in improving exercise endurance (SMD [95% CI]: 0.70 [0.14-1.27], I = 30%) by additional analysis.
This systematic review suggests that the ingestion of PGPs or ginsenosides, especially Rg, is effective in improving exercise endurance in healthy adults. However, further high-quality randomized controlled trials are required because imprecision and publication bias cannot be ignored in this systematic review.
许多使用含人参属植物（PGPs）的食物进行的研究已经开展，但大多数研究都没有提及有效化合物人参皂苷及其组成。因此，我们进行了一项系统评价和荟萃分析，以时间到力竭作为运动耐力的指标，评估摄入 PGPs 或人参皂苷的效果。
我们于 2021 年 3 月 15 日至 22 日通过全面而结构化的文献检索，在七个文献数据库、四个临床试验数据库和三个通用网络搜索引擎中进行了系统评价。采用随机效应模型计算标准化均数差（SMD）和 95%置信区间（CI），作为治疗组和安慰剂组均值之间的差异。我们评估了个体研究的偏倚风险，并按照 Cochrane 手册中的偏倚风险工具进行评估。本研究由丸善制药株式会社（日本广岛）资助。本研究方案在 UMIN-CTR 注册（UMIN000043341）。
五项研究符合纳入标准。总参与者人数为 90 人，其中 59 人在摄入 PGPs 组，64 人在对照组，因为三项研究为交叉设计试验。我们发现，摄入 PGPs 或人参皂苷可显著提高运动耐力（SMD[95%CI]：0.58[0.22-0.95]，I=0%）。进一步的分析表明，人参皂苷 Rg（Rg）和含 Rg 的 PGPs 提取物在提高运动耐力方面具有显著效果（SMD[95%CI]：0.70[0.14-1.27]，I=30%）。
本系统评价提示，摄入 PGPs 或人参皂苷，特别是 Rg，可有效提高健康成年人的运动耐力。但是，由于本系统评价存在不精确性和发表偏倚，需要进一步开展高质量的随机对照试验。
