ginseng is a plant, the root of which has been taken as a health food for over 2,000 years around the world. Long before ginseng was well-known to the Western general public,people from aristocratic and scientific classes knew about, wrote about, and showed their love for ginseng,regarding it as a natural medicine and calling it the "treasure from the Orient." Some notable figures, who have openly endorsed the use of ginseng to support natural health, include King Louis XIV (the "Sun King") and passionate philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau.Both enjoyed and appreciated the health effects of ginseng. Pope Paul II loved ginseng so much that he made it popular around the Vatican. Russian novelist, Maxim Gorky, used ginseng while recovering from a smoking-related disease and French president Mitterrand claimed that ginseng helped extend his life while living with a terminal cancer. Even the British rock band, the Scorpions, came to china and purchased ginseng to support their active lifestyle, while one of the world's top models, Naomi Campbell, has shared that one of her secret's for body care is using ginseng extract.