Known as the King of herbs, ginseng is one of the most popular medicinal plants in the world, It is endowed with unique pharmacological activities. It can help the body resistance against physical and psychological stress and has shown potential positive roles in interfering with fatigue, inflammation, neurodegeneration, depression, blood glucose, diabetes in recent research.

Ginseng refers to both American ginseng and Panax ginseng (known as Asian ginseng, Korean ginseng, Chinese ginseng). Because ginseng is mainly grown and produced in China, South Korea, Canada and the United States, British people are difficult to find the best ginseng in the UK. The article will lead you to some best ginseng shops online and offline.

1. Holland & Barrett

Holland & Barrett is the top health and wellness store in the UK. It has physical stores across the UK, and  British customers could easily find a local brand nearby their home. 

Hollandanbarett has a full range of products, including ginseng. The company develops both singular and complex ginseng. The singular one is  Holland & Barrett Korean Ginseng. One bottle contains 100 capsules and each capsule can provide 500 mg Korean red ginseng. The ginseng extract was standardized to contain a minimum of 20% total ginsenosides. It is friendly to Vegans & Vegetarians. The price is affordable at £17.99. 

Holland & Barrett Ginseng complex blends Korean ginseng extract, Red Chinese ginseng extract, Siberian Ginseng Extract together. The Korean ginseng extract in this product is standardized with 20% total ginsenosides.

In addition to its own brand, Holland & Barrett also carries ginseng products from other brands. Customers can choose to buy ginseng products in the local stores or at their online shopping store.

2. Baldwins

Baldwins is one of the oldest and most established natural herbal medicine stores in the UK, and you can always find the herbs that you can call to mind. 

In the store, you can find ginseng root, powder, tablets, capsules, and tinctures. American ginseng, Korean red ginseng root, Chinese root, Siberian ginseng are all available.

There are many ginseng extract capsules. Power Ginseng GX2500+, developed by a Holland nutrition manufacturer, is a Korean ginseng extract containing 30% total ginsenosides, which is higher than other competitions. It is formulated in different specifications of 30 capsules, 60 capsules, and 100 capsules. The price for 100 capsules is £22.89. It contains soya, so people who are allergic to soya shall not take it a try.

Baldwins also has ginseng tinctures. Baldwins Ginseng (san Qi) Chinese Herbal Tincture is formulated in a herb-liquid ratio of 1:3. The Ginseng (san Qi) Chinese Herbal Tincture in 50 ml is priced at £15.45, and £119.59 in 500 ml.  Ginseng tinctures are expensive, compared with capsules, while they have faster absorption and easy digestion.

3. SimplySupplements

Big nutrition and supplement companies usually have full product lines and will include ginseng into their products, so do SimplySupplements. 

SimplySupplements is one of the most reputable nutritional companies in the UK.  The company has a Korean red ginseng complex. This ginseng complex takes Korean red ginseng as main ingredients and Zinc and vitamin B6 account for small portions.

In SimplySupplements Korean red ginseng complex, 2000 mg Korean ginseng was standardized to 40 mg of Korean ginseng extract, and the total ginsenoside content is unclear since it is not listed in the label.

4.  Beijing Tong Ren Tang, Chinatown 

Chinese people have a long history of using herbal medicine and they are big fans of ginseng. In Chinatown and acupuncture clinics, you can find ginseng products.

Beijing Tong Ren Tang, located in London Chinatown, is a famous Chinese medicine shop and it can trace its origins back to the 1600s.  

China is the biggest market for ginseng consumption, and Chinese companies have engaged in ginseng research for decades, and they have advanced technologies in ginsenoside extraction and formulation. They are able to produce less polar rare ginsenoside monomers, which are far more bioactive and absorbable than naturally occurring ginsenosides. Most ginseng products in the current market contain total ginsenosides that are mainly made up of hard-to absorb major ginsenosides. Rare ginsenoside Rg3 has been listed as a class I new drug in traditional Chinese medicine.

Tong Ren Tang is a household pharmacological brand in China,  the Chinese medicinal herbs are of high quality and you can buy high-quality ginseng products with rare ginsenosides there. 

5. Lavivant Korean ginseng

Lavivant Korean red ginseng is manufactured by KGEC (Korean Ginseng Export Corporation) in South Korea. The ginseng products take six-year-old fermented Korean red ginseng as raw materials. 

The content of the total ginsenosides in LAVIVANT can reach up to 13%, equivalent to that 1000 mg contains 130 mg of total ginsenosides. The total ginsenosides in Lavivant contain Rg1, Rb1, Rg3, Rh2, Re, Rh1, Ro, Rb2, Rd, Rf, and others. It has a different concentration of Korean ginseng extract, 80mg/g, 110 mg/g and 130 mg/g. 

Lavivant ginseng is formulated in many forms, including capsules, stick in liquid forms, roots, and capsules. It also has Korean red ginseng tea series.

Lavivant Korean ginseng is available on their shopping website and Amazon.

6. Love life Panax (Korean) Ginseng Extract

Love life is a brand established by a startup. The company is ambitious in the vitamin and supplement industry and owns a variety of dietary supplements. 

Love life Panax ginseng extract is standardized from Panax ginseng root in a ratio of 10:1. Ginsenosides, the active components responsible for health benefits, in Love life Korean ginseng, account for 20% of the total ginseng extract. 

One bottle of Love life Panax Ginseng Extract contains 120 capsules, each in 300 mg. The price is favorable at £14.95. 

Lovelife focuses on online selling and it seems that they don't open physical stores, but you can easily reach out to them on their website and Amazon.

7. CheonKwanJang

CheonKwanJang is one of the best-known Korean red ginseng. It is accredited for using 6-year-old ginseng as raw material and then processed into red ginseng by heating and steaming. It is typical red ginseng that has about 32 kinds of ginsenosides.

CheonKwanJang has dozens of product lines, and it is branded as a Korean red ginseng extract supplement, daily snacks including tea, flavorful drinks, and candies, as well as skincare.

The raw ginseng is of high quality, however, CheonKwanJang doesn’t list the standardized ginsenoside content in the label, so it is unclear the ginsenoside content of its products.

CheonKwanJang is available on Amazon.co.uk, and they have an office in Scotland and customers can reach out to their contact information on their official website. 

Buy internationally 

As mentioned before, the ginseng products in the UK are focused on total ginsenosides and customers need to order internationally if they want to purchase rare ginsenosides. We list two rare ginsenoside brands that can be searched on google.

1. Redsenol 

Redsenol is an outstanding Canadian ginseng and ginsenosides brand featuring a high amount of rare ginsenosides. The research team devoted to ginsenoside research for over 16 years, and developed core technologies to produce rare ginsenosides in large amounts.

Redsenol goes much further in the ginsenoside research. Most manufacturers in the ginseng field only grasp the technologies to extract naturally occurring ginsenoside, known as prototype ginsenosides in ginseng. These prototype ginsenosides are high-molecular-weight and hardly absorbable, and some steamed Korean red ginseng may contain only rare ginsenosides Rg3, Rg5, Rh1. Incredibly,  Redsenol contains sixteen types of rare ginsenosides and the Redsenol research team grasp core technologies to convert naturally occurring ginsenosides into less polar rare ginsenosides. These rare ginsenosides including Rh3, Rk1, Rk2, Rk3, aPPD, aPPT, etc. are far more potent than prototype ginsenosides. Redsenol rare ginsenosides products are also available on Amazon.

Amazingly, the rare ginsenosides content in Redsenol-1 noble ginsenosides capsules reaches 20%.

2. BTGIN

BTGIN is a Korean red ginseng brand. BTGIN has many product lines with different types of products for different groups of people. 

One highlight for BTGIN G300  is that the product features enzymatic red ginseng that has good absorption and bioavailability. BTGIN features more bioactive rare ginsenoside Rg3.  The supplement has 2.5% rare ginsenoside Rg3.

In conclusion

UK is not home to ginseng so there is no famous ginseng brand in the UK. Ginseng products with total ginsenosides are dominant in the current market, and some are standardized to contain 30% total ginsenosides. However, there are no rare ginsenoside supplements in the UK, so British people need to buy rare ginsenoside products abroad.