Ginger

GINGER

History on Ginger

Ginger a culinary and medicinal herb, is spicy to the tongue but yet soothing to your intestinal tract. For centuries ginger was well known for its culinary aspects, used by the Romans in specialty breads. Today ginger remains one of the worlds most popular culinary flavorings. It is used in everything from ginger ale to spicy Asian culinary art. Ginger is known as “ the great or universal medicine “ in the Ayurvedic tradition. It was so highly prized in the middle centuries that it was thought to come from the Garden of Eden. Today in modern herbal medicine, ginger is used as a digestive aid and to prevent or treat nausea and vomiting.

Uses for Ginger

For around 2000 years it has been known in China, that ginger is an affective treatment for nausea, upset stomach, diarrhea, colic and heart conditions. It is also prescribed to promote perspiration, treat colds, flu, and bronchitis. Ginger is also used to stimulate digestion,banish flatulence, relax muscle spasms and improve liver functions. When it is added to massage oil ginger assists in relieving muscular strains and rheumatic pain and for stimulating circulation in painful joints. With is antiseptic action, ginger is often recommended for its ability to treat cases of food poisoning and for infections of the gastrointestinal tract. When fresh ginger root is chewed it can help with a sore throat and headaches. In traditional Chinese medicine fresh and dried ginger are considered different medicines and are used for different complaints. Fresh ginger is used for warming the stomach and spleen, to promote sweating, alleviate coughs and to warm the lungs. Dried ginger is used as a treatment for pains in the abdominal regions and the stomach, for vomiting and diarrhea, poor appetite, chills, asthma and weak pulse.

Cultivation of Ginger

Ginger is shade loving tropical plant that flourishes in moist, fertile soil beneath warm and humid atmospheric conditions. Rhizomes the underground or root part of the plant are harvested when the plants are 10 to 12 months old, and products are made from fresh or dried ginger rhizomes or from steam distillment of the oil. It is cultivated commercially through out the tropics.

Contraindication's

Gingers rhizomes contain chemicals known as shogaols and gingerols, which stimulate the flow of saliva, gastric secretions, appease stomach upsets and promote gentle muscle contractions that move food through out the digestive tract. Shogaols and gingerols are also responsible for gingers anti nausea effects; they inhibit violent muscle spasms in the digestive tract and curb diarrhea. Clinical studies have shown that ginger is effective in reducing symptoms associated with motion sickness. It also has been demonstrated to relieve nausea liked to pregnancy. In herbal medicine an active compound zingibain a enzyme counteracts inflammation. Preliminary reports have also shown that ginger may lower cholesterol, act as an antioxidant to prevent arterial plaque, and prevent platelet aggregation that can lead to blood clots. Research in the effects of gingers efficaciousness in reducing nausea following surgery and chemotherapy have proven to be positive.