Feeding Studies of Rats with Some Drinks Containing Ginseng Extract

To study the effects of diets containing Ginseng extracts as foods, Sprague-Dawley strain rats were fed several diets containing the Ginseng extracts(Ginseng nectar, Ginseng orange juice, Ginseng drink) for 12 week. The Ginseng diets contained 555 mg or 1,110 mg of Ginseng extracts per kg of the diet. During the feeding, growth rate, feed efficiency ratio, organ weight, hematocrit value, SGOT and SGPT activity were compared with those of the control rats. As results of growth rate, feed efficiency ratio, organ weight, hematocrit value and SGPT activity showed no statistical significance between Ginseng fed animals and the controls. The experimental animals showed slightly lower SGOT activity and higher serum cholesterol than the controls did. The difference was, however, not statistically significant. No abnormalities of liver, spleen and kidney tissues were observed in the rats fed with the diets containing the Ginseng extract. As result of swimming test, a statistically significant increase of the swimming time was observed in the experimental animal groups, especially in Group V.