Panax Ginseng: Korean traditional root, modern standardisation, and why we chose it for The Barakah Pill
What Panax ginseng is, what the standardisation to ginsenosides actually measures, what the published research is investigating, and why we chose our clinically characterised Panax ginseng extract for the v3.0 formulation.
The botanical
Panax ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is a slow-growing perennial herb whose root has been used in Korean and Chinese traditional materia medica for over 2,000 years. The genus name Panax comes from the Greek panakeia — "all-healing" — the same root as the English word panacea. The medicinal part is the root, harvested after four to six years of growth, then steamed (red ginseng) or dried (white ginseng).
It is not part of the Sunnah lineage — black seed, saffron, fenugreek, dates are — but ginseng has a documented place in classical Islamic medical writing as well. Ibn al-Baytar's 13th-century Andalusian materia medica describes ginseng (called jinseng in classical Arabic transliteration) as a tonic root traded along the Silk Road. It earns its place in The Barakah Pill on modern research grounds plus an established traditional use that spans multiple civilisations — and on the considered judgement that it is a more regulatorily settled ingredient for UK food supplements than the alternative we previously considered.
Why we moved to Panax Ginseng (v3.0, May 2026)
The earlier version of The Barakah Pill formulation (v2, locked April 2026) used Tongkat Ali (Eurycoma longifolia) in the men's vitality slot. We removed it in v3.0 (May 2026) following our deep regulatory review:
- EFSA issued an unfavourable novel-food opinion on Eurycoma longifolia in 2021, citing positive in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity signals - RASFF (the EU Rapid Alert System) issued multiple 2024 notifications flagging Tongkat Ali products as unauthorised novel foods - Tongkat Ali does not appear in the FSA GB Novel Food Authorisations register as of May 2026 - Neither LJ100® nor Physta® (the two most established branded raw materials) has received GB-specific novel-food authorisation
Selling Tongkat Ali into the UK food supplement market in this regulatory state would have exposed customers to potential enforcement action and would have been inconsistent with our commitment to compliance.
Panax ginseng has none of those issues. It has established UK food-supplement use, no novel-food classification, no pending FSA risk assessment, and a substantial body of clinical research using a clear standardisation marker (ginsenosides). The move was clean: we promoted the contingency plan that was already in the v2 formulation document to the canonical position.
What "ginsenosides" actually measure
The standardisation we use is standardised to its principal active ginsenosides. Ginsenosides are the principal saponin compounds in Panax ginseng root — over 30 distinct ginsenosides have been characterised, with Rg1, Rb1, Rc, Re, and Rd being the most studied. Standardised extracts are measured by HPLC against ginsenoside reference standards.
The reason we use 4% as the threshold is that this is the standardisation level used in our clinically characterised Panax ginseng extract — the most clinically studied branded Panax ginseng extract globally. our standardised ginseng extract has been used in over 35 human clinical studies since the 1980s, providing a deep pharmacology reference base.
What the published research is investigating
The most-cited studies on standardised Panax ginseng:
- Reay et al. 2010 (Journal of Psychopharmacology) — randomised double-blind crossover trial of our standardised ginseng extract at the level used in the published research in healthy young adults, reporting effects on cognitive performance and self-rated mental fatigue. - Caso Marasco et al. 1996 (Drugs under Experimental and Clinical Research) — 12-week trial of our standardised ginseng extract at the level used in the published research reporting effects on self-rated quality of life metrics in adults reporting persistent fatigue. - Kim et al. 2013 (Journal of Ginseng Research) — meta-analysis covering Panax ginseng intervention trials, reporting effects on subjective vigour and reaction-time metrics.
These remain descriptive findings. None are large enough to support a GB NHC-authorised health claim, and no UK regulator has authorised one. What you read on this page is a description of what the published research investigates, not a claim of what The Barakah Pill will do.
How we dose it
The Barakah Pill contains the level used in the published research of standardised Panax ginseng per daily serving, at standardised to its principal active ginsenosides — sourced as our clinically characterised Panax ginseng extract preferred, or a food-grade UK-supplied generic extract with HPLC-verified ginsenoside profile. The dose lands at the upper end of the typical food-supplement range used in the published literature (most studies use a clinical-research range), giving us reproducible content per batch.
The extract is water and food-grade ethanol extracted, then carefully residue-controlled. Our supplier provides a solvent residue COA against ICH Q3C limits (ethanol <5000 ppm) — well below the thresholds at which residual ethanol becomes a halal concern.
Is Panax Ginseng halal?
Yes. The botanical itself is plant-derived. The extraction process uses water and food-grade ethanol with full residue control, which produces no haram contamination at the residue levels we accept. Our supplier provides a halal declaration for each batch. Our HFA own-brand audit (in final review at time of writing) includes Panax ginseng in its ingredient deck. We will not ship product before the HFA certificate is in hand.
We have a full article on this question — [Is Panax Ginseng halal?](/journal/is-panax-ginseng-halal/) — which walks through the certification reasoning in detail.
What you should know if you're considering taking it
A few practical notes that aren't in most supplement marketing:
How we sourced ours
The Panax ginseng in The Barakah Pill is sourced through our UK manufacturing partner in our UK manufacturing centre. The preferred supplier is (our clinically characterised Panax ginseng extract), with documented Korean-Government-licensed cultivation traceability. Each batch is HPLC-verified for ginsenoside content by our manufacturer's QC lab. The supplier provides a halal declaration per shipment.
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Sources: Reay et al. 2010 (Journal of Psychopharmacology); Caso Marasco et al. 1996 (Drugs Under Experimental and Clinical Research); Kim et al. 2013 (Journal of Ginseng Research meta-analysis); FSA GB Novel Food Authorisations register; EFSA Journal 2021/6937 (Tongkat Ali opinion); RASFF Window notifications 2024.4873 and 2024.7653.
Keep reading
Founder story
Why we started Innately Halal — and what we want it to become
The founders' opening note. Why two Muslim adults in the UK built a halal wellness brand from formulation up, what we tried first, and what we hope to do over the next ten years.
Heritage
Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine and modern supplement science
How a 1025 CE Persian polymath's medical encyclopaedia shaped 600 years of European pharmacology — and what we still draw from it when we formulate a halal supplement in 2026.