Understanding the Benefits of Ginger
Understandingthe Benefits of Ginger - More than just a delicious spice or food -
discover the health benefits of ginger. Ginger, officially known as Zingiber
officinale, is a wonderful spice prized for its taste and medicinal properties.
This article will provide you with the incredible benefits of ginger, probably
surprising by some.
One of the things that make ginger so unique is that
it has been used for more than 2,500 years by Chinese herbalists. Although
often used for flavoring, the Chinese discovered ginger herb root could heal
the body.
As the popularity of ginger increased, the Greeks
began using it to make bread, thus the creation of gingerbread, and colonists
in North America found that by sipping ginger beer, an upset stomach was
calmed. For that reason, one of the many benefit of ginger root is for nausea.
In fact, this root is incredibly effective as a
digestive aid due primarily from the active ingredients shogaols and gingerols.
Both of these natural components work by neutralizing
stomach acids, enhancing secretion of digestive juices, and toning the
digestive tract muscles.
By ginger soothing the stomach, flatulence is often
relieved. An excellent combination for treating flatulence is by mixing grated
gingerroot and diluted lime juice.
HEALTH
BENEFITS OF GINGER
To fully understand the benefits of ginger, let us
break them down. First, for nausea, the problem with regular prescription
anti-nausea drugs is that it works by going through the body's central nervous
system.
Because of this, a person will often experience
drowsiness, an unwanted side effect. With ginger, drowsiness is seldom a
problem. Additionally, ginger has been shown to help with anesthesia reaction.
Commonly, people undergoing surgery will wake up only
to feel nauseated. In a controlled study, it was shown that by taking just one
gram of ginger prior to surgery, the effects of the anesthesia were
significantly less.
However, most medical professionals prohibit ginger
prior to surgery because it causes blood platelets to be less
"sticky", which can increase risk of bleeding.
Regardless, being able to control nausea has many
benefits. For example, for the individual suffering from motion sickness, just
one gram of powdered ginger taken daily can cut the incidences of vomiting and
sweats.
In fact, one of the benefits of ginger root specific
to motion sickness is that it showed to provide a calming effect. The same is
true for dizziness, which is a side effect often associated with motion
sickness. With gingerroot, the level of dizziness is lessened.
GINGER AND ITS
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS
Another one of the health benefits of ginger has to
do with chronic pain, a common complaint among millions of people. Since ginger
contains an anti-inflammatory component, it can indirectly relieve pain by reducing
inflammation.
What happens is that prostaglandins, natural pain
causing compounds, are reduced providing the person with pain relief. Interestingly,
many professional massage therapists will use ginger oil for this reason.
For muscle and joint pain caused by rheumatoid
arthritis or even individuals who play sports, one gram of powdered ginger
taken daily can provide excellent relief.
Other health benefits of ginger include reducing
symptoms associated with allergies, the common cold, and other respiratory
problems. Because ginger is a natural antihistamine and decongestant, it can
provide outstanding relief from these symptoms by dilating constricted
bronchial tubes.
As you can see, there are many benefits of ginger,
many unknown. Because of the diversity of ginger, we highly recommend it be
added to a person's list of daily supplements.
BUYING GINGER
SUPPLEMENTS
When you buy ginger supplements, make sure they
contain spicy compounds, once again shogaol and gingerol. Whether buying as
powder, in crystallized form, extract in pill form, fresh gingerroot, or as
tea, you will enjoy feeling better.
You can even benefit from ginger by drinking eight
ounces of ginger ale every day. Remember, just one gram makes a huge difference
so you are not required to consume large amounts.
Finally, there are some warning tones related to
ginger. Pregnant women should not use ginger in treating nausea during the
first trimester and for people with gallstones, large amounts of ginger should
be avoided.
Again, people who will undergo surgery or those who
are easily bleeding must avoid ginger too because it can cause bleeding.