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We found the article by Vuksan et al¹ recently published in the ARCHIVES most interesting and valuable. The data illustrate beautifully the hazards of the various "natural" herbal remedies so widely used these days. Although the ginseng and placebo preparations used in all 19 subjects were from a single manufacturer's lot, there was marked variation in glycemic effect. The number of subjects was too small to estimate confidence limits.

This exact problem of variable effects was well identified more than 50 years ago when there was only whole-leaf digitalis available to treat patients. Eugene L. Dembicki, RPh, coauthor of this letter and a collector of old books, has access to an old, out-of-print textbook of pharmacology, The Dispensatory of the United States,² that provides a detailed description of the difficulties in elucidating the properties of various preparations of the digitalis plant. Confounding analyses were such contingencies as plant variety, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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American Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L) Reduces Postprandial Glycemia in Nondiabetic Subjects and Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
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Arch Intern Med. 2000;160(7):1009-1013.
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