Ginseng is a popular herbal medicine that has been used for thousands of years. A number of its components have been isolated and characterized, including ginsenosides, polysaccharides, peptides, polyacetylenic alcohols, and fatty acids. The lipophilic characteristics of ginsenosides have raised the possibility of their efficacy as steroid hormones. Several in-vitro studies have reported their pharmacological function as steroid hormones, especially estrogen, but no human study to date has confirmed their efficacy as alternatives to synthetic estrogen.