No effect of acute ingestion of Thai ginseng (Kaempferia parviflora) on sprint and endurance exercise performance in humans

Thai ginseng, Kaempferia parviflora, is widely believed among the Mong hill tribe to reduce perceived effort and improve physical work capacity. Kaempferia parviflora is consumed before their daily work. Therefore, we conducted an acute study on the effects of K. parviflora on repeated bouts of sprint exercise and on endurance exercise time to exhaustion. Two studies were conducted in college males using a randomized, double-blind, crossover design. Ninety minutes after consumption of K. parviflora or a starch placebo, participants in study 1 (n = 19) completed three consecutive maximum 30-s sprint cycling Wingate tests, separated by 3 min recovery, while participants in study 2 (n = 16) performed submaximal cycling exercise to exhaustion. Peak and mean power output decreased with successive Wingate tests, while percent fatigue and blood lactate concentration increased after the third Wingate test (P < 0.05). There were no detectable differences in any measures with or without K. parviflora. There was also no effect of K. parviflora on time to exhaustion, rating of perceived exertion or heart rate during submaximal exercise. Our results indicate that acute ingestion of K. parviflora failed to improve exercise performance during repeated sprint exercise or submaximal exercise to exhaustion. However, chronic effects or actions in other populations cannot be excluded