Background : Ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. meyer) is a medicinal herb which has been used for prevention and treatment of diseases in Korea, China and Japan for a long time. Ginseng is well known to have effects such as immunity enhancement, anticancer, antioxidative effect and blood circulation improvement. These pharmacological effects of ginseng have been reported to be due to various ginsenoside components. Recently, many studies have been actively conducted to identify the major components and functionalities of ginseng berry. Ginsenoside, a representative active ingredient of ginseng, is distributed in various parts of ginseng. However, contents of certain ingredient such as ginsenoside Re which have antidiabetic effect is higher in ginseng berry. This study was conducted to compare ginsenoside content and UV blocking effect according to the color of ginseng berry.
Methods and Results : The ginseng berry extracts for the component analysis and UV-blocking effect test were obtained by harvesting the ginseng berry by color in 4-years-old ginseng cultivated, and then removing the seeds and extracting only the flesh of the ginseng berry and the peel with methanol. Ginsenosides analysis was carried out by dissolving 100 ㎎ of the extract in 2 ㎖ of methanol, filtering it with a 0.50 ㎛ filter and using it as a sample for HPLC analysis. Analysis of ginsenoside content showed that the total ginsenoside and ginsenoside Rb2 content of yellow ginseng berry were 23.9 and 2.9 ㎎/g, while those of red berry was 19.6 and 2.3 ㎎/g, respectively. The UV blocking effect of yellow ginseng berry was 17.4%, which was higher than that of red berry.
Conclusion : The ginsenoside content and UV blocking effect of yellow ginseng berry were superior to those of red berry. These results suggested that yellow berry is more useful as cosmetic material for UV protection.