For thousands of years the people of China have been consuming
Gynostemma as a sweet and bitter refreshing tea - however, this
only occurred in isolated areas where the herb grew wild along the
southern mountains. One story describes an area in southern China
where people were living well past 100 years old and were found to
be consuming Gynostemma daily, which they foraged from the local
forest. The locals in this area referred to Gynostemma, as “xiancao”
the “Immortality Herb,” and described it as: “Like ginseng but better.”
Modern research by Japanese scientists have discovered over 120 saponin
molecules in Gynostemma, many of which are chemically identical to the
mere 36 revered saponins found in Ginseng - making Gynostemma truly
astonishing.