Ginger, the rhizome of the Zingiber officinale (a member of the Zingiberaceae family)

Ever wondered why ginger is so good for you? Besides being a popular cooking ingredient especially in Indian and Asian cuisine, it has also been used for thousands of years for its health and healing benefits. This versatile root can be consumed either fresh, powdered, dried, in oil form or as a juice.

 Active ingredients in Ginger includes but not limited to terpenes and oleoresin. The major identified components from terpene are sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds which are gingerol and shogaol and lipophilic rhizome extracts, yielded potentially active gingerols, which can be converted to shogaols, zingerone and paradol.

Chemical of Structure of Active Ingredients of Ginger

 Biological activities of Ginger active compounds:

(Information extracted from the International Journal of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology)

 What does this mean? To simplify, ingesting ginger will yield these benefits:

1. Antioxidant: Taking ginger prevents damage of macromolecules caused by the free radicals/oxidation stress by neutralizing it. Consumption of ginger reduces lipid oxidation and inhibits pathogenesis of diseases.
2. Is also plays a vital role as anti-inflammatory. Studies on in vitroinvestigations of ginger preparations and some isolated gingerol-related compounds showed anti-inflammatory effects of ginger such as inhibition of COX and nuclear factor κB.
3. Anti- tumour: Via modulation of genetic pathways such as activation of tumour suppressor gene, modulation of apoptosis and inhibition of VEGF. Studies has shown that terpenoids, constituents of ginger induce apoptosis in endometrial cancer cells through the activation of p53.
4. Antimicrobial: Ginger contains compounds gingerol, paradol, shogaols and zingerone that kills microorganisms or stops their growth therefore is ideal to eliminate viruses that causes sore throat and coughing.
5. Prevents Gastricitis: Ginger root extracts and gingerol inhibits of the growth of Helicobacter pylori CagA+ strains, which has a specific gene linked to the development of gastric premalignant and malignant lesions.
6. Anti- diabetic: this global health problem is a metabolic disorder caused by abnormality of carbohydrate metabolism which is related to low blood insulin level or insensitivity of target organs to insulin. Every 5 seconds, a person is detected to have Diabetes and every 10 seconds someone dies from it.  Because of its anti-hyperglycemic effect, Ginger controls diabetes and its complications. Research done on mice showed that oral administration of ethanolic extract of ginger significantly decrease fasting blood glucose level.
7. Because of its phenolic and flavonoids compounds, Ginger also has neuroprotective effects. Research on mice showed that when consumed, ginger juice has protective effect by decreasing the LPO and increasing GSH, SOD, CAT, GPx, GST, GR and QR and protein level.
8. Anti-inflammatory: Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of musculoskeletal pain and disability. Instead of using anti-inflammatory drugs which has been shown to cause side effect and may cause gastric ulcer, why not drink ginger tea to curb osteoarthritis.
9. Due to constituents present in ginger including gingerols, shogaols, galanolactone and diterpenoid, ginger has an anti- emetic effect which means it reliefs nausea and vomiting.
10. Hepato-protective: Hepatoxicity implies chemical-driven liver damage which is a cause of acute and chronic liver disease.
11. Study showed that administration of ginger powder at dose of 500-600 mg for 3-4 days with gap of 4 hours, showed relief from migraine

 Did you know?

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 Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106649/