Ginseng, the root of the Panax ginseng, has been widely used as a traditional herbal medicine in Korea, China, and Japan for thousands of years. Now ginseng has become popular as functional health food and natural medicine and it is one of the bestselling natural products in the world. Gut microbiota has been found to play an important role in the metabolism and pharmacological action of orally administered ginseng. Recent animal and clinical studies have shown that compound K (20-O -beta-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol, CK) is the major ginsenoside metabolite deriving from gut microbiota-induced biotransformation and is more efficiently absorbed into the systemic circulation than its parent ginsenosides. Since ginsenoside metabolism varies between individuals depending on the population of gut microbiota, much attention paid to the transformation of major ginsenosides into more pharmacologically active ginsenosides using diverse methods including heating, acid hydrolysis, microbial conversion, and enzymatic treatment. Recently, in food and drug industry and academia, the development of fermented ginseng products using probiotic bacteria is being intensively studied due to the potential health benefits of ginsenoside metabolites and probiotics. This review summarizes recent studies on the metabolism of ginsenoside by gut microbiota and biotransformation of ginsenoside using lactic acid bacteria and their enzymes.

Abstract
서 론
Ginsenoside의 구조적 특성
인삼 가공처리에 의한 ginsenoside 전환
Ginsenoside의 대사에서 장내미생물의역할
유산균 발효 및 효소를 활용한 ginsenoside의생물전환
    유산균 유래 효소에 의한 ginsenoside의 생물전환
    유산균 발효에 의한 ginsenoside의 생물전환
결 론
References

• 박훈(선문대학교 식품과학과) | Hoon Park (Department of Food Science, Sun Moon University) Corresponding author