What are the effects of taiga root?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been using taiga root for thousands of years. Important ingredients of the taiga root are, for example, eleutherosides, phenylpropanoids, sterols and coumarins.
One of the best proven is the so-called adaptogenic effect of taiga root. This means that the medicinal plant improves the ability to adapt to extraordinary stress and thus counteracts exhaustion. Taiga root is said to increase physical and mental performance and relieve stress.
Fields of application
Medically recognized is the use of taiga root in states of exhaustion. In folk medicine, the medicinal plant is also used, for example:
- as an aphrodisiac
- to reduce fever
- for drainage
- as a sedative
- for the treatment of asthma
- as a hair restorer
What side effects can taiga root cause?
Rare side effects of taiga root are insomnia, irritability and headache.
How is taiga root used?
Taiga root is sometimes used as a tea, but often in the form of ready-made preparations.
To prepare tea, pour a cup of boiling water over one teaspoon of finely chopped or coarsely powdered taiga root and strain the plant parts after 15 minutes.
Ready-to-use medicinal products based on Siberian ginseng, such as capsules, coated tablets or drops, contain the powder or dry or liquid extracts of the taiga root. Please use them as indicated in the respective package insert or as recommended by your doctor or pharmacist.
What you should keep in mind when using taiga root.
To be on the safe side, do not take taiga root preparations for longer than two months, because nothing is known about possible long-term effects. After a break of about two months, the intake can be continued.
You must not take taiga root in the following cases:
- Pregnancy
- Lactation
- Children under twelve years of age
- High blood pressure
- hypersensitivity to the medicinal plant
How to get the taiga root products
You can obtain the dried root and various dosage forms based on taiga root in pharmacies and sometimes also in drugstores.
For proper use, please read the respective package insert and ask your doctor or pharmacist.
What is taiga root?
The branches and petioles of the five-toothed, finely serrated leaves are covered with spines. This is the origin of the Latin species name “senticosus” (rich in thorns and spines) and the German name Stachelpanax.
Siberian ginseng is dioecious – so there are female and male specimens. The female bear yellow, the male blue-purple flowers in umbels.
The medicinally used taiga root comes from controlled wild collections in Russia. It has an effect similar to that of ginseng, but it is more expensive. Olympic participants in the former Soviet Union took it to enhance their performance.
Also, after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, thousands of Ukrainians and Russians were given taiga root to reduce radiation damage.
