Benefits
Endurance: longer cycling time to exhaustion with purified Rg1
In 12 untrained men, 5 mg of purified ginsenoside Rg1 taken the night before and an hour before cycling at 80% of VO2max raised time to exhaustion from about 32 to 38 minutes, roughly 20% more than placebo. A later study giving a single 5 mg dose an hour before found a 12% gain in another 12 young men. Both tested the isolated compound, not the Senactiv blend, and NuLiv Science helped fund both.
Muscle glycogen recovery after exercise
In 14 untrained men given 5 mg of purified Rg1 the night before and an hour before a 60 minute ride, muscle glycogen refilled faster over 3 hours of recovery than on placebo, and blood glucose and insulin after a carbohydrate meal were lower. The paper does not report the often quoted 370% figure; glycogen did not rise at all in the placebo condition during that window.
Citrate synthase activity in exercised muscle
Citrate synthase is a muscle enzyme used to make energy with oxygen. In 12 untrained men given purified Rg1 before a 60 minute ride, its activity in muscle rose significantly 3 hours after exercise, with no rise on placebo. The paper does not report the often quoted 47% figure, and a short-term enzyme change after one session has not been shown to improve training results.
Lower senescent cell marker in exercised muscle after one purified Rg1 dose
In a 12-person crossover study, 9 of 12 men who took a single 5 mg dose of purified ginsenoside Rg1 (not the Senactiv blend) had no detectable signal from an aging-cell marker in muscle after exercise, while the placebo condition did not change. That is a marker in a muscle sample from 12 people after one dose. Whether it leads to stronger, healthier muscle or a longer healthspan has not been tested.
Mechanism of action
Inflammatory balance and oxidative stress in exercised muscle
In a small human study, purified ginsenoside Rg1 taken before exercise reversed the exercise-driven rise in the inflammatory signal TNF-alpha and fall in the anti-inflammatory signal IL-10 in muscle, limited a marker of fat oxidation damage (TBARS), and raised citrate synthase activity 3 hours later. PGC-1 alpha, a switch for building new mitochondria, did not change, so new mitochondria were not shown.
Glucose handling and GLUT4 in exercised muscle
Muscle refills its fuel stores using a glucose transporter called GLUT4. In the same small Rg1 study, GLUT4 messenger RNA in exercised muscle did not change, although blood glucose and insulin after a post-exercise meal were lower and glycogen refilled faster. Why that happened is not known; a protective effect on GLUT4 or insulin signalling was not shown in people.
Senolytic clearance of β-galactosidase-positive cells
After a single 5 mg dose of purified Rg1, researchers saw less of an aging-cell marker in exercised muscle, and a 2021 report from the same group found lower stem cell aging markers. The step from those markers to actually building fresh, better performing muscle has not been shown in people.
Clinical trials
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trials with a 4-week washout, testing 5 mg of purified ginsenoside Rg1 supplied by NuLiv Science, taken the night before and 1 hour before exercise. The study was partly funded by NuLiv Science, and it tested the isolated compound rather than the finished Senactiv blend (Hou et al. 2015, PLoS One).
Healthy untrained young men: 14 in a glycogen and meal tolerance trial, and 12 in an endurance trial who also gave muscle biopsies for enzyme and inflammation measures.
Cycling time to exhaustion at 80% of VO2max rose from 31.8 to 38.3 minutes with Rg1 (about 20%, P = 0.04), with no change in VO2max. After a 60 minute ride, muscle glycogen refilled faster over 3 hours and glucose and insulin after a carbohydrate meal were lower; citrate synthase activity rose 3 hours after exercise; the exercise-driven rise in TNF-alpha and fall in IL-10 in muscle were reversed. Glycogen use during exercise, PGC-1 alpha and GLUT4 did not change. No adverse events were reported. The 47% and 370% figures quoted in marketing do not appear in the paper.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study testing a single 5 mg dose of purified ginsenoside Rg1 (not the finished Senactiv blend), supplied by NuLiv Science, one hour before high-intensity cycling, with muscle biopsies. NuLiv Science helped fund it and two authors are listed as inventors on a NuLiv Science patent application (Wu et al. 2019, J Ginseng Res).
12 healthy young men (mean age 21) in the biopsy study, cycling at 70% of VO2max, with vastus lateralis biopsies before and after exercise; a separate group of 12 young men (mean age 23) did a cycling time to exhaustion test at 80% of VO2max.
9 of 12 Rg1 participants showed complete elimination of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) signals in exercised muscle versus no change on placebo (p<0.05). In the separate endurance group, a single dose increased cycling time to exhaustion by 12% (1,219 versus 1,364 seconds, p<0.05); the authors note this is smaller than the roughly 20% seen when Rg1 was taken twice. The limits are large: 12 participants per test, one dose of an isolated compound rather than the blend, and marker-based outcomes.