A key ingredient in Asian cooking, ginger has also been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. What are its benefits? How should you use it? Read on to find the answers to these and other questions.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a tropical perennial primarily cultivated in its native India, as well as in China.
It is normally the rhizomes that are used. These are the plant’s underground roots which have a distinctive fragrance and spicy flavour.
Ginger is a spice used in many recipes across the globe. It is found in drinks such as ginger ale, in curries, and in cakes, as well as in the famous gingerbread.
Ginger has long been used in Chinese medicine, particularly for its direct action on certain meridians.
It is also regarded as a ‘universal medicine’ in Ayurveda (India’s traditional system of medicine).
The Kama Sutra, the 6th century Indian text which describes various sexual practices, contains many references to ginger’s specific properties. In the same vein, the Comtesse du Barry (the mistress of Louis XV) was known to have given ginger to her lovers. We’ll return to ginger’s health benefits a little later.
Ginger contains 60% starch, protein, fats, polysaccharides, essential oils and resin (1).
Its spicy taste, which produces a hot feeling in the mouth, comes from the root’s phenols: gingerol, zingerone, paradol and shogaol.
As the most biologically active of these phenols, gingerol is primarily responsible for ginger’s beneficial effects(2).
Widely recommended by naturopaths, ginger helps to:
In addition, ginger contains antioxidants (10), the molecules that reduce the activity of the infamous free radicals which cause premature ageing of our cells.
Ginger can be consumed in a number of ways:
There are many reasons why ginger supplements are popular:
Indeed, you can take a ginger supplement to naturally support your digestion, immune system, respiratory tract, cardiac health and vitality.
When buying a ginger supplement, make sure it has a high gingerol content (such as the product Super Gingerols, standardised to 20% gingerols), offering guaranteed efficacy.
You’ll also find ginger alongside other ingredients in synergistic formulations:
References
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