Does red ginseng boost exercise performance or ease fatigue?

Short answer

It did not boost performance. Exercise results, endurance, and muscle recovery stayed the same. Fatigue eased a little, but in the largest red ginseng trial (120 people) there was no difference from a dummy pill.

Does red ginseng boost exercise performance or ease fatigue?
'Red ginseng → more stamina, less fatigue' — does this formula hold?
It is common to hear that red ginseng builds stamina and keeps you from tiring. We checked trials against a dummy pill, split into exercise results, muscle recovery, and fatigue.
Start with exercise results
Pooling 8 trials, no difference
In an analysis of trials comparing ginseng (including red ginseng) with a dummy pill, the 8 trials that measured physical performance showed no difference. Across 14 studies of people who exercise, maximum oxygen uptake, peak power, heart rate, and how hard exercise felt did not change.
What about red ginseng alone?
14 studies, no change in endurance or speed
A review of 14 red ginseng studies found no gain in endurance, including time until exhaustion, shuttle runs, and maximum oxygen uptake. A 30 m sprint and peak power showed no difference in most studies. Of 7 studies on how fast lactate cleared after exercise, 5 found no difference.
Recovery after lifting?
Muscle damage markers did not drop
A review gathered 6 trials that gave ginseng and measured muscle damage after strength training. Muscle damage levels in the blood, strength recovery, and soreness did not show that ginseng reduced damage. There was no evidence that red ginseng speeds recovery after training.
What about fatigue?
It eased, but only a little
An analysis pooling 4 trials found fatigue dropped slightly more with ginseng than with a dummy pill. In a trial where 90 people took it for 4 weeks, the mental fatigue score fell from 20.4 to 15.1, versus 20.9 to 18.8 on the dummy pill. The overall fatigue score, though, did not differ from the dummy pill.
The largest red ginseng trial?
120 people, 12 weeks, no difference from a dummy pill
120 people with rheumatic disease took 2 g of red ginseng a day or a dummy pill for 12 weeks. 38.3% and 26.7% saw their fatigue improve, no difference. The dummy pill group's fatigue score also improved by 4.0 points, close to 4.6 points with red ginseng.
Bottom line: performance stayed the same
Fatigue eased a little, close to the dummy pill
Red ginseng did not change exercise results, endurance, or recovery after strength training. Fatigue eased a little, but in the largest red ginseng trial the dummy pill group improved about as much. Taken to boost exercise performance, red ginseng had no effect.