Ginger Zingiber officinale — Your Food is Your Medicine
Article and Photography by Steven Foster
We all have memories of
mom's home remedy, something she gave us whenever
we complained of a minor upset, a sniffily nose,
stomach upset or the like. For my siblings and me
that wasn't chicken soup, it was ginger ale. Ginger
ale served two purposes, both curative and placebo.
Curative, in that few foods or spices, of which
ginger is best known, are as well documented as
medicinal plants as they are as food. The placebo
effect grew from my child mind which associated
ginger with ginger snap cookies. I thought I was
getting cured with medicine of which cookies were
made!
Ginger, consists of the fresh or dried roots of Zingiber officinale. In 1807, the English botanist
William Roscoe (1753-1831) gave the plant the name Zingiber officinale.
The ginger family is a tropical group especially
abundant in Indo-Malaysia, consisting of more 1275
plant species in 48 genera. The genus Zingiber includes about 100 species of
aromatic herbs from East Asia and tropical
Australia. The name of the genus, Zingiber,
derives from a Sanskrit word denoting
"horn-shaped," in reference to the protrusions on
the rhizome.
The ginger plant is an
erect perennial growing from one to three feet in
height. The stem is surrounded by the sheathing
bases of the two-ranked leaves. A club-like spike
of yellowish, purple-lipped flowers have showy
greenish yellow bracts beneath. Unfortunately,
ginger rarely flowers in cultivation.
The ginger of commerce
consists of the thick scaly rhizomes (underground
stems) of the plant. They branch with thick
thumb-like protrusions, thus individual divisions
of the rhizome are known as "hands." Ginger, both
fresh and dried, has become increasingly popular in
the United States in recent years. During the
1990s, on average, the U.S. imported more than
4,000 metric tons of ginger per year. Major world
producers include Fiji, India, Jamaica, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, and China. American imports come from
China, several Caribbean Islands, Africa, Central
America, Brazil, and Australia. Ginger is now
commercially cultivated in nearly every tropical
and subtropical country in the world with arable
land for export crops. Although most ginger is
imported, the best fresh ginger this writer has ever sampled was
organic ginger grown in
Hawaii.
Ginger in History
Ginger has been cultivated for so long that its
exact origin is unclear. Cultivated for millennia
in both China and India, it reached the West at
least two thousand years ago, recorded as a subject
of a Roman tax in the second century after being
imported via the Red Sea to Alexandria. Tariff
duties appear in the records of Marseilles in 1228
and in Paris by 1296. Ginger is known in England
before the Norman Conquest, as it is commonly found
in the 11th century Anglo-Saxon leech books. Ginger
is detailed in a 13th century work, "Physicians of
Myddvai," a collection of recipes and prescriptions
written by a physician, Rhiwallon, and his three
sons, by mandate of Rhys Gryg, prince of South
Wales (who died in 1233). By the 13th and 14th
centuries it was familiar to English palates, and
next to pepper, was the most popular spice. A pound
of ginger was then valued at the price of one
sheep. Ginger, as a product of the Far East, was
indelibly imprinted on the taste buds of Westerners
before potatoes, tomatoes, and corn were even known
to exist by Europeans.
In China, ginger is mentioned in the earliest
of herbals. Dried ginger is first mentioned in Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, attributed to the
Divine Plowman Emperor, Shen Nong, thought to have lived some 5,000 years ago. Fresh ginger was first listed in Ming Yi Bie Lu (Miscellaneous Records of
Famous Physicians) and Ben Cao Jing Ji
Zhu (Collection of Commentaries on the
Classics of Materia Medica) both attributed to
Tao Hong-Jing written during the
dynasties of the North and South Kingdoms around
the year 500 AD.
Fresh ginger and dried
ginger are considered two distinct commodities. In
fact, one author of an early ben cao (Chinese
herbal) felt that they were so different that they
must come from two different plants! The dried root
is known as Gan-jiang. The fresh root is called
Sheng-jiang. The fresh root is used to dispel
pathogens via its ability to induce sweating. It
expels cold, relieves nausea and "clear away" toxic
matter. The dried root treats depleted yang,
removes cold, is useful for "cold" pain of the
stomach and abdomen, is useful for diarrhea due to
cold deficiency, cough, rheumatism and many other
uses. Experimental data developed by Chinese
scientists verifies the ability of the dried root
to "strengthen," the stomach while acting as a mild
stomach and intestinal stimulant. It has also been
shown to inhibit vomiting. Studies with fresh root
showed that for the first few hours ginger tea
reduced gastric secretions, followed by a longer
period of stimulation. Animal experiments have also
shown analgesic and anti-inflammatory
activity.
Even in modern China,
while an essential ingredient in almost any meal,
it is also one of the most widely consumed drugs.
Both fresh and dried roots are official drugs of
the modern Chinese pharmacopoeia, as is a liquid
extract and tincture of ginger. Ginger is used in
dozens of traditional Chinese prescriptions as a
"guide drug" to "mediate" the effects of
potentially toxic ingredients. In fact, in modern
China, Ginger is believed to be used in half of all
herbal prescriptions.
Like the ancient Chinese, in India the fresh
and dried roots were considered distinct medicinal
products. Fresh ginger has been used for
cold-induced disease, nausea, asthma, cough, colic,
heart palpitation, swellings, dyspepsia, loss of
appetite, and rheumatism. In short, for the same
purposes as in ancient China. In nineteenth century
India, one English writer observed that a popular
remedy for cough and asthma consisted of the juice
of fresh ginger with a little juice of fresh
garlic, mixed with honey. A paste of powdered dried
ginger was applied to the temples to relieve
headache. To allay nausea, fresh ginger was mixed
with a little honey, topped off with a pinch of
burnt peacock feathers. One modern government
health guide in India suggests 1-2 teaspoons of
ginger juice with honey as a cough suppressant.
Ginger is as popular a home remedy in India today,
as it was 2,000 years ago.
Ginger is truly a world
domestic remedy. It has been well-known in European
homes for almost a thousand years. Asian cultures
have used it for centuries. Indigenous groups of
the Caribbean islands were quick to adopt it as a
remedy after its introduction to America by
Francisco de Mendoca. By 1585, in fact, it was an
export from Santa Domingo. In Jamaica the warm
steamy fumes of hot ginger tea are used as an
inhalant to relieve head colds.
European tradition values ginger tea for
digestive disturbances. The Family Herbal (1814) by English physician, Robert Thorton,
praises the virtues of ginger, but his statements
may say more about the social habits of the British
of two centuries ago than they do of Ginger.
"Dyspeptic patients from hard drinking, and those
subject to flatulency and gout, have been known to
receive considerable benefit by the use of ginger
tea; taking two or three cupfuls for breakfast,
suiting it to their palate"..."as ginger promotes
the circulation through the extreme vessels, it is
to be advised in torbid and phlegmatic habits,
where the stomach is subject to be loaded with
slime, and the bowels distended with
flatulency."
Thorton, though, hints at
another potential benefit of ginger - help for the
heart. Studies by Japanese researchers indicate
that ginger has a tonic effect on the heart, and
may lower blood pressure by restricting blood flow
in peripheral areas of the body. Further studies
show that ginger can lower cholesterol levels by
reducing cholesterol absorption in the blood and
liver.
Ginger and its Modern Use
Ginger extracts have been extensively studied
for a broad range of biological activities
including antibacterial, anticonvulsant, analgesic,
antiulcer, gastric antisecretory, antitumor,
antifungal, antispasmodic, antiallergenic, and
other activities. Gingerols have been shown to be
inhibitors of prostaglandin biosynthesis. Danish
researchers at Odense University have studied the
anticoagulant properties of ginger and found that
it was a more potent blood&emdash;clotting agent
than garlic or onion. The same research group
studied the potential use of ginger in the
treatment of migraine, based on the long history of
ginger use for neurological disorders by
practitioners of India's traditional medicine
system known as Ayurveda. The researchers proposed
that ginger may exert migraine-headache-relieving
and preventative activity without side
effects.
Other scientific studies
show that gingerol, one of the primary pungent
principles of ginger, helps counter liver toxicity
by increasing bile secretion. Ginger has potent
anti-microbial and anti-oxidant (food preservative)
qualities as well. A recent study, furthering
ginger's reputation as a stomachic, shows that
acetone and methanol extracts of ginger strongly
inhibits gastric ulceration.
Several studies published in the last two
decades have confirmed the traditional claims for
use as an anti-vomiting or anti-motion sickness
agent. In one study published in The Lancet researchers D.B. Mourey and D.E. Clayson found that
capsules containing 940 mg. of dried ginger powder
when given to persons who suffer from motion
sickness, actually produced better results than
dimenhydrinate, an antihistamine used in an
over-the-counter motion sickness product. The 36
volunteers involved in the study were blindfolded
and placed in a rotating chair for six minutes.
Those who received the ginger capsules lasted an
average of 5.5 minutes. Those who had the
antihistamine held out for 3.5 minutes. A more
recent double-blind randomized placebo trial tested
ginger capsules on sea sickness. Eighty naval
cadets, not used to heavy high seas were involved
in the trial. Those who took the placebo
experienced symptoms of seasickness. Those who
received dried ginger root capsules had reduced
tendencies to both cold sweats and nausea.
Other scientists, while
finding these tests promising, believe that many
more studies should be done before coming to
conclusions on the value of ginger for motion
sickness.
A NASA-sponsored study by
researchers at Louisiana State University,
published in 1988, concluded that dried powdered
ginger given in capsules two hours before testing,
or minced fresh ginger given one half hour before
testing, was ineffective when used as an
anti-motion sickness medication. Forty-two men and
women were involved in the testing. They were
subjected to testing periods in a special rotating
chair. The study was conducted in response to that
fact that 50% of Space Shuttle crew members
experience motion sickness. The study did not
involve testing the ginger itself to determine if
it contained appreciable quantities of what is
believed to be the primary active chemical
component, gingerol, found in the essential oil,
and responsible for the "hot" taste produced by
ginger
In designing those future
experiments scientists should dig a little deeper
into the history of the cultures that have long
used ginger as an antinauseant. There they may
discover that fresh ginger root or ginger
juice is used for this purpose in China not the dried root as recent experimenters have
used. In the NASA-funded study, one&emdash;half to
one gram of dried root was used and only one gram
of fresh root. In Chinese traditional medicine a
single dose of fresh ginger in a medicinal herbal
tea prescription ranges from 3-9 grams. Six human
studies on ginger's effects on motion sickness have
been conducted since 1982, four European studies
reporting positive results and two American studies
reporting negative results. Inappropriate low dose
and inferior quality plant material could
contribute to negative results
Ginger's nausea reducing actions have been
attributed to its ability to increase digestive
fluids, plus absorb and neutralize toxins and
stomach acid. Ginger has been shown to increase
bile secretion, as well as increase the action and
tone of the bowels. It has been shown to reduce the
stickiness of blood platelets, hence may help
reduce risk of atherosclerosis. Limited studies
have suggested ginger may reduce morning sickness,
as well as nausea after surgery. Both require a
physician's supervision.
The dried roots have a
synergistic action between compounds in the
essential oil and pungent principles such as
gingerol. Some products are now standardized to
gingerol content.
In Germany, ginger
products are allowed to be labeled for treatment of
dyspeptic complains or prevention of symptoms of
motion sickness. The average daily dose is 2 g of
the dried rhizome. The German therapeutic monograph
warns patients with gall bladder disease to avoid
ginger. They also suggest not exceeding the
recommend dosage. Individuals contemplating ginger
use during morning sickness (short term only) avoid
use when gall bladder disease is present.
Ginger is valued the world
over, as a culinary herb, condiment, spice, home
remedy, and medicinal agent. It is likely that
ginger will be enjoyed and valued for the next
millennium, and new research will undoubtedly
reveal new value for this ancient herb.