Zingiber officinale and its incredible health benefits BY Dr Izharul Hasan

Zingiber officinale and its incredible health benefits:

Common Name : Adrak

Botanical Name : Zingiber Officinale

Plant Parts Used : Rhizome

Short Description: Ginger is a perennial herb, with underground branching stems, which are swollen and tough. The leaves and rhizomes of ginger have a characteristic fragrance when cut or bruised.
Rhizomes are dug out after the leafy parts are dried. Ginger is available in two forms, fresh and dried. The sun-dried ginger is known as ‘SOUNTH' in Hindi. Both the forms are effective. As the taste of ginger is not very palatable, it is carefully adapted to the plate by putting it in vegetables. Originally from Central Asia, today ginger is cultivated in all the tropical and subtropical Asian regions, Brazil, Jamaica and Nigeria. Raw ginger is popular in South East Asia. In India ginger tea prepared by cooking slices of fresh ginger for a few minutes, is taken as a spicy and healthy drink to get relieved form cold and cough.

Name in International Languages
Hindi:
Adrak

French:
Gingembre

German:
Ingwer

Swedish:
Ingefara

Arabic:
Gember

Dutch:
Knoflook

Italian:
Zenzero

Portuguese:
Gengibre

Russian:
Imbir

Japanese:
Shoga

Chinese:
Chiang

Serving the purpose of a taste- maker, an appetizer and a drug, ginger is known as one of the earliest Oriental spice in Europe and has been cultivated in India as a fresh vegetable and marketed as a dried spice since time immemorial. Ginger was an important spice during the Roman times. During the last centuries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ginger was used to flavor true beer i.e. the alcoholic beverage obtained by fermenting malt.

• Health Benefits: Ginger is an effective home remedy for cough and colds. Extracted juice of ginger with honey is taken three or four times a day in case of coughs. In case of colds, ginger cut into small pieces is boiled in a cup of water. After straining, with half a teaspoon of sugar, it should be taken hot.
• Ginger Root increases production of saliva in the mouth and dramatically increases digestive enzyme amylase in the saliva to additionally aid digestion. Ginger Root also contains a very effective digestive enzyme zingibain.
• Ginger tea, prepared by adding a few pieces of ginger into boiled water before adding tea- leaves, is another effective remedy for frequent colds and associated fevers.
• Increases the muscular contractions of the heart atria, there by increase in overall circulation. Ginger has been proven to prevent internal blood clots and lowers blood pressure. Ginger Root stimulates the central nervous system controlling the heart and respiratory centers. Ginger helps reduce serum cholesterol, which can slow down circulation.
• To get control over dyspepsia, nausea and vomiting due to biliousness, indigestion caused by intake of heavy non-vegetarian and fried fatty food, morning sickness, jaundice and piles take half a teaspoon of fresh ginger juice, mixed with one teaspoon each of fresh lime and mint juices and a tablespoon of honey. Take this mixture thrice daily to reduce these kinds of problems.
• Very cleansing - reduces pus in infected wounds as well as boils. Clears spots caused by chicken pox and shingles. Useful for burns, sores, sunburn, ringworm, warts, herpes, athletes foot and even for dandruff.
• Take a teaspoon of ginger root juice with honey for lowering your cholesterol. This alos prevents the formation of blood clots.
• Ginger can help prevent motion sickness and may help protect from other forms of nausea (postoperative and chemotherapy induced nausea). If you'd like to see how well ginger works, chew take two to four slices of fresh ginger or capsules just before you travel. Then take two more each hour or so. If your stomach begins to feel even mildly upset, take ginger even if the hour is not up yet. You may find you need less and less as you get used to the sensation of travel. A recent study found that ginger was as effective as Dramamine in preventing motion sickness, without causing the drowsiness the drug sometimes does. If you are on chemotherapy treatment 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ginger can help reduce nausea by 40% on the first day of treatment when combined with other anti-nausea medications.
• To proliferate sweating and reduces fever in influenza take a teaspoon of fresh ginger juice mixed with a cup of fenugreek decoction and honey to taste. It makes an excellent diaphoretic mixture. It acts as an expectorant in bronchitis, asthma, whooping cough and tuberculosis of the lungs.
• Drink ginger tea with or without honey three to four times a day to relieve sore throat.
• Ginger is excellent in reducing nausea caused by pregnancy. Recent studies indicate that eating as much as 2 to 3 tablespoons of raw ginger or 5 to 8 table-spoons of cooked ginger (15 or 40 grams, respectively) daily will not stimulate uterine contractions.
• To reduce menstrual disorders crush a piece of fresh ginger and boil in a cup of water for a few minutes. The infusion, sweetened with sugar, is taken thrice daily after meals for painful or irregular menstruation caused by exposure to cold winds or by cold bath.
• Ginger is an excellent pain- killer and it has capacity to cure all kinds of pain like- in headache, ginger ointment made by rubbing dry ginger with a little water on a grinding
• Ginger is highly beneficial in the treatment of flatulence, dyspepsia, colic, vomiting, spasms and other painful affections of the stomach and the bowels, not accompanied by fever. Chewing a piece of fresh ginger regularly after meals prevents these ailments. This protective action is due to the excessive secretion of saliva, diastase enzyme and volatile oil.
• stone and applied to the forehead affords relief. It allays toothache when applied to the gum. In case of earache, a few drops of ginger juice give relief.
• Ginger may act as a natural aphrodisiac. Drink hot ginger tea (by mixing ginger juice, hot water and honey) after a not-too-heavy meal and see it work
• Ginger juice is natural aphrodisiac. For better results, half a teaspoon of ginger juice, honey with a half-boiled egg and is taken at night for a month. It tones up the sex organs and cures impotency, premature ejaculation and spermatorrhea or involuntary seminal discharge.
• Take 50 gm. of dry ginger, pepper corns, cloves, nutmeg, anise seed and dry curry leaves and make a powder with them. Add 5 gm. of broneol camphor to this and make a mixture. Consuming a tea spoon of this mixture helps to purify the semen and prevents premature ejaculation.

Mechanism of Actions and Uses :
Anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenin-induced rat paw oedema has been shown. The active principles gingerol, and dehydrogingerdione and gingerdione were shown to be potent inhibitors of pr.ostaglandin synthesis - confirming the mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect. The antirheumatic effects were further confirmed by other inves- tigators.Antihistaminic activity has also been shown in vitroll. The plant inhibits the virion toxic factor production in infected chorioallantoin membrane and also inhibits the growth of W.M.- 25d malignant cell-line. Cardiac inotropic activity has been shown in, Dogs and guinea pigs. Ginger was shown to have significant antiemetic and antivertigo effects like dramamine.It has been lised effectively along with Piper nigrum and Piper longum in viral hepatitis. Ginger forms an important constituent of many ayurvedic formula- tions. It is chiefy used as a home remedy for nausea and dyspepsia.

Ginger contains 1-2% volatile oil and 5-8% resinous matter,starch and mucilage. The oil of ginger is a mixture of over 24 constituents, consisting of monoterpenes (phellandrene, (+)carnphene, cineolc, citral and borneol) and sesquiterpenes etc(zingiberine, and bisabolene). The pungent component is ingerol-formed in the plant from phenylalaanine, nialoiiate and hexanoate. Minor constituents of an extract are gingreniols, methylgingediol, gingeryldiacetates and methyl gingediacetates.
Storage: To store ginger for later use, peel it, wrap in plastic and put it in the freezer. This method of storage helps the ginger stay fresher longer and when you're ready to use it for the next meal, you'll find the ginger will be easier to grate and slice when frozen.

Presented by Dr Izharul Hasan


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