Measurement of temperature change on the body surface due to intake of Panax ginseng
1) Purpose of the experiment
It is being well-know that Panax ginseng as for food and medicine has the effects of recovery from exhaustion, improvement from loss in appetite, improvement from cold-sensitive constitution, improvement in recovery after illness and remedy for hypotension. In this experiment, we performed an experiment for the purpose of clarifying how intake of foods that contain Panax ginseng affect the changes in temperature of the finger tips by focusing on effects of improving cold-sensitive constitution.
2) Experimental procedures
2-1) Measurement environment
Experiment was performed in the room temperature of 21 to 22˚C with humidity of 25%.
2-2) Subjects
Eight women aged between 19 and 20.
Experiment was performed 10 minutes after the subjects entered the room.
2-3) Measuring method
15 minutes after eating a muffin that contains 0.8 g of Panax ginseng and that does not contain Panax ginseng, the temperature change of central skin of third fingertip part on the left hand (position at approximately 5 mm interphalangeal joint side from the base of the nail) has been measured using thermography.
This measurement was performed right after the moisture of the left hand that was being put into water bath with temperature of 20˚C for a minute was wiped offed with paper towel. Five minutes after relaxing in a room, the temperature of same area was measured. The change in body surface temperature was calculated by subtracting measured temperature right after a minute in a water bath from the measured temperature right after relaxing in a room for five minutes.
The experiment eating a muffin that contains Panax ginseng and that does not contain Panax ginseng were performed for same subject leaving an interval of two weeks after completing either experiment, at the same period of time.
2-4) Recipe of the muffin with or without Panax ginseng
Original recipes/Recipes with Panax ginseng/Muffin with ginger and Panax ginseng
3) Experimental result
The experimental result is shown in Figure 1.
It has been observed that six out of eight subjects had a higher temperature change after eating a muffin that includes 0.8 g of Panax ginseng compared to after eating a muffin that does not contain Panax ginseng. The average temperature change of eight subjects were 1.49˚C when a muffin that does not contain Panax ginseng was eaten. On the other side, it was 3.91˚C when a muffin that does contain Panax ginseng was eaten. It has been observed that there is a high trend in the change of temperature of finger surface due to intake of Panax ginseng.
4) Discussion
It has been suggested that eating foods that contains Panax ginseng likely to increase the temperature of finger surface and that Panax ginseng is effective for cold-sensitive constitution due to the increase in circulating blood volume of finger as a result of eating Panax ginseng for once. However there are some subjects who didn’t have any effect, suggesting that the result differs substantially between individuals. This experiment was performed at the time period two to three hours after eating lunch, and we did not hear the details of body condition of the subjects on that date. It is required that we do an experiment for the subjects with similar body condition, compare the groups feeling cold or not, and increase the number of subjects.