Home | Alphabetical Index | Conditions & Cures | Anti-Aging | Articles | Forums | Where to Buy

Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

Proposed Uses: Motion Sickness ; Morning Sickness in Pregnancy; Post-surgical Nausea; Atherosclerosis; Migraine Headaches; Osteoarthritis; Rheumatoid Arthritis

Native to southern Asia, ginger is a 2- to 4-foot-long perennial that produces grass-like leaves up to a foot long and almost an inch wide. Although it’s called ginger root in the grocery store, the part of the herb used is actually the rhizome, the underground stem of the plant, with its bark-like outer covering scraped off.

Ginger has been used as food and medicine for millennia. Arabian traders carried ginger root from China and India to be used as a food spice in ancient Greece and Rome, and tax records from the second century A.D. show that ginger was a delightful source of revenue to the Roman treasury. Presently, the annual production of ginger exceeds 2 million pounds.

Chinese medical texts from the fourth century B.C. suggest that ginger is effective in treating nausea, diarrhea, stomachaches, cholera, toothaches, bleeding, and rheumatism. Ginger was later used by Chinese herbalists to treat a variety of respiratory conditions, including coughs and the early stages of colds.

One of the most prevalent ingredients in fresh ginger is the pungent substance gingerol. However, when ginger is dried and stored, its gingerol rapidly converts to the substances shogaol and zingerone. Which, if any, of these substances, has medicinal effects remains unknown.

Some evidence suggests that ginger may be at least slightly helpful for the prevention and treatment of various forms of nausea, including motion sickness, the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (morning sickness), and post-surgical nausea.

Note: If you are pregnant or undergoing surgery, do not self-treat with ginger except under physician supervision.

Scant preliminary evidence suggests that ginger might be helpful for osteoarthritis.

Ginger has been suggested as a treatment for numerous other conditions, including atherosclerosis, migraine headaches, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol, ulcers, depression, and impotence. However, there is negligible evidence for these uses.
In traditional Chinese medicine, hot ginger tea taken at the first sign of a cold is believed to offer the possibility of averting the infection. However, once more there is no scientific evidence for this use.

Dosage
For most purposes, the standard dosage of powdered ginger is 1 to 4 g daily, divided up into 2 to 4 doses per day.

To prevent motion sickness, it may be best to begin treatment 1 or 2 days before the trip and continue it throughout the period of travel.

Safety Issues
Ginger is on the FDA's GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list as a food, and the treatment dosages of ginger are comparable to dietary usages. No significant side effects have been observed.

Like onions and garlic, extracts of ginger inhibit blood coagulation in test tube experiments. European studies with actual oral ginger taken alone in normal quantities have not found any significant effect on blood coagulation.

Feature Article

The Fountain of Youth?

What if I told you that it may be possible for you to live to age 100 or even longer, in better health than you are in right now? And, if you are already experiencing the ill effects of aging, what if I told you that it may be possible for you to look and feel 20 years younger and stay that way beyond the age of 100.

Aside from the fact that you'd probably call me crazy, I have to tell you that we have never been as close as we are today to actually being able to extend human life!

Read More