Health Benefits of Ginger
Historically, ginger has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress. In herbal medicine, ginger is regarded as an excellent carminative (a substance which promotes the elimination of intestinal gas) and intestinal spasmolytic (a substance which relaxes and soothes the intestinal tract). Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects.
Gastrointestinal Relief
A clue to ginger’s success in eliminating gastrointestinal distress is offered by recent double-blind studies, which have demonstrated that ginger is very effective in preventing the symptoms of motion sickness, especially seasickness. In fact, in one study, ginger was shown to be far superior to Dramamine, a commonly used over-the-counter and prescription drug for motion sickness. Ginger reduces all symptoms associated with motion sickness including dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and cold sweating.
Safe and Effective Relief of Nausea and Vomiting During Pregnancy
Ginger’s anti-vomiting action has been shown to be very useful in reducing the nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, even the most severe form, hyperemesis gravidum, a condition which usually requires hospitalization. In a double-blind trial, ginger root brought about a significant reduction in both the severity of nausea and number of attacks of vomiting in 19 of 27 women in early pregnancy (less than 20 weeks). Unlike antivomiting drugs, which can cause severe birth defects, ginger is extremely safe, and only a small dose is required.
A review of six double-blind, randomized controlled trials with a total of 675 participants, published in the April 2005 issue of the journal, Obstetrics and Gynecology,has confirmed that ginger is effective in relieving the severity of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. The review also confirmed the absence of significant side effects or adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes.
Anti-Inflammatory Effects
Ginger contains very potent anti-inflammatory compounds called gingerols. These substances are believed to explain why so many people with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis experience reductions in their pain levels and improvements in their mobility when they consume ginger regularly. In two clinical studies involving patients who responded to conventional drugs and those who didn’t, physicians found that 75% of arthritis patients and 100% of patients with muscular discomfort experienced relief of pain and/or swelling.
Arthritis-related problems with your aging knees? Regularly spicing up your meals with fresh ginger may help, suggests a study published in a recent issue of Osteoarthritis Cartilage. In this twelve month study, 29 patients with painful arthritis in the knee (6 men and 23 women ranging in age from 42-85 years) participated in a placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover study. Patients switched from placebo to ginger or visa versa after 3 months. After six months, the double-blind code was broken and twenty of the patients who wished to continue were followed for an additional six months.
By the end of the first six month period, those given ginger were experiencing significantly less pain on movement and handicap than those given placebo. Pain on movement decreased from a score of 76.14 at baseline to 41.00, while handicap decreased from 73.47 to 46.08. In contrast, those who were switched from ginger to placebo experienced an increase in pain of movement (up to 82.10) and handicap (up to 80.80) from baseline. In the final phase of the study when all patients were getting ginger, pain remained low in those already taking ginger in phase 2, and decreased again in the group that had been on placebo.
Not only did participants’ subjective experiences of pain lessen, but swelling in their knees, an objective measurement of lessened inflammation, dropped significantly in those treated with ginger. The mean target knee circumference in those taking ginger dropped from 43.25cm when the study began to 39.36cm by the 12th week. When this group was switched to placebo in the second phase of the study, their knee circumferences increased, while those who had been on placebo but were now switched to ginger experienced a decrease in knee circumference. In the final phase, when both groups were given ginger, mean knee circumference continued to drop, reaching lows of 38.78 and 36.38 in the two groups.
How does ginger work its anti-inflammatory magic? Two other recent studies provide possible reasons.
A study published in the November 2003 issue of Life Sciences suggests that at least one reason for ginger’s beneficial effects is the free radical protection afforded by one of its active phenolic constituents, 6-gingerol. In this in vitro (test tube) study, 6-gingerol was shown to significantly inhibit the production of nitric oxide, a highly reactive nitrogen molecule that quickly forms a very damaging free radical called peroxynitrite. Another study appearing in the November 2003 issue of Radiation Research found that in mice, five days treatment with ginger (10 mg per kilogram of body weight) prior to exposure to radiation not only prevented an increase in free radical damage to lipids (fats found in numerous bodily components from cell membranes to cholesterol), but also greatly lessened depletion of the animals’ stores of glutathione, one of the body’s most important internally produced antioxidants.
A study published in the February 2005 issue of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine sheds further light on the mechanisms of action that underlie ginger’s anti-inflammatory effectiveness. In this research, ginger was shown to suppress the pro-inflammatory compounds (cytokines and chemokines) produced by synoviocytes (cells comprising the synovial lining of the joints), chrondrocytes (cells comprising joint cartilage) and leukocytes (immune cells).
Protection against Colorectal Cancer
Gingerols, the main active components in ginger and the ones responsible for its distinctive flavor, may also inhibit the growth of human colorectal cancer cells, suggests research presented at the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, a major meeting of cancer experts that took place in Phoenix, AZ, October 26-30, 2003.
In this study, researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Hormel Institute fed mice specially bred to lack an immune system a half milligram of -gingerol three times a week before and after injecting human colorectal cancer cells into their flanks. Control mice received no -gingerol.
Tumors first appeared 15 days after the mice were injected, but only 4 tumors were found in the group of -gingerol-treated mice compared to 13 in the control mice, plus the tumors in the -gingerol group were smaller on average. Even by day 38, one mouse in the -gingerol group still had no measurable tumors. By day 49, all the control mice had been euthanized since their tumors had grown to one cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inch), while tumors in 12 of the -gingerol treated mice still averaged 0.5 cubic centimeter-half the maximum tumor size allowed before euthanization.
Research associate professor Ann Bode noted, “These results strongly suggest that ginger compounds may be effective chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agents for colorectal carcinomas.”
In this first round of experiments, mice were fed ginger before and after tumor cells were injected. In the next round, researchers will feed the mice ginger only after their tumors have grown to a certain size. This will enable them to look at the question of whether a patient could eat ginger to slow the metastasis of a nonoperable tumor. Are they optimistic? The actions of the University of Minnesota strongly suggest they are. The University has already applied for a patent on the use of -gingerol as an anti-cancer agent and has licensed the technology to Pediatric Pharmaceuticals (Iselin, N.J.).
Ginger Induces Cell Death in Ovarian Cancer Cells
Lab experiments presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer, by Dr Rebecca Lui and her colleagues from the University of Michigan, showed that gingerols, the active phytonutrients in ginger, kill ovarian cancer cells by inducing apoptosis (programmed cell death) and autophagocytosis (self-digestion).
Ginger extracts have been shown to have both antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects on cells. To investigate the latter, Dr Liu examined the effect of a whole ginger extract containing 5% gingerol on a number of different ovarian cancer cell lines.
Exposure to the ginger extract caused cell death in all the ovarian cancer lines studied.
A pro-inflammatory state is thought to be an important contributing factor in the development of ovarian cancer. In the presence of ginger, a number of key indicators of inflammation (vascular endothelial growth factor, interleukin-8 and prostaglandin E2) were also decreased in the ovarian cancer cells.
Conventional chemotherapeutic agents also suppress these inflammatory markers, but may cause cancer cells to become resistant to the action of the drugs. Liu and her colleagues believe that ginger may be of special benefit for ovarian cancer patients because cancer cells exposed to ginger do not become resistant to its cancer-destroying effects. In the case of ovarian cancer, an ounce of prevention-in the delicious form of liberal use of ginger-is an especially good idea. Ovarian cancer is often deadly since symptoms typically do not appear until late in the disease process, so by the time ovarian cancer is diagnosed, it has spread beyond the ovaries. More than 50% of women who develop ovarian cancer are diagnosed in the advanced stages of the disease.
Immune Boosting Action
Ginger can not only be warming on a cold day, but can help promote healthy sweating, which is often helpful during colds and flus. A good sweat may do a lot more than simply assist detoxification. German researchers have recently found that sweat contains a potent germ-fighting agent that may help fight off infections. Investigators have isolated the gene responsible for the compound and the protein it produces, which they have named dermicidin. Dermicidin is manufactured in the body’s sweat glands, secreted into the sweat, and transported to the skin’s surface where it provides protection against invading microorganisms, including bacteria such as E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus (a common cause of skin infections), and fungi, including Candida albicans.
Ginger is so concentrated with active substances, you don’t have to use very much to receive its beneficial effects. For nausea, ginger tea made by steeping one or two 1/2-inch slices (one 1/2-inch slice equals 2/3 of an ounce) of fresh ginger in a cup of hot water will likely be all you need to settle your stomach. For arthritis, some people have found relief consuming as little as a 1/4-inch slice of fresh ginger cooked in food, although in the studies noted above, patients who consumed more ginger reported quicker and better relief.
December 6, 2008 @ 11:00 am - Written by Trent
Categories: Books, Personal Productivity / Personal Development
One topic that seems to come up time and time again in my reader mailbag columns is the concept of reading for personal growth. I hear questions all the time ranging from how to choose books that are worth reading, how to know when a book isn’t really providing answers for you, how to read faster, and how to actually apply learned information to one’s life.
In response to these questions, I’ve drawn up a list of tactics for people to use to get started on a successful habit of reading for personal growth. Using these tactics will help you get the most out of the books that you read, apply what you’ve learned to your own life, and actually grow (either professionally or personally) as a result of the reading.
Set aside a block of time each day for reading. Each and every day. Fifteen minutes or a half an hour is a good time to set aside for concentrated, focused reading. When you do this, go to a place in your home with minimal distractions - no television, few opportunities for interruption, and so on.
Start a journal to go along with your reading. When you start doing such focused reading, it’s well worth your while to start a journal to go along with it. For the last five minutes of your reading session, jot down your thoughts about what you just read, and do it every time. Doing this forces you to organize your thoughts about what you read and makes you go through those thoughts again. Determine an area of your life that you’d like to improve. Perhaps you’d like to learn more about a particular topic, or maybe you’d prefer to simply improve upon a particular set of skills. Spend some time considering what exactly you’d like to educate yourself on. Perhaps, for example, you’d like to learn more about western philosophy - in particular, you’re trying to determine for yourself what the meaning of life is. That’s a good starting place.
Utilize the library - but do it carefully. It’s tempting to go to the library and leave with an armload of books, but for most readers who aren’t devoting hours to the written word each day, leaving with armloads is often a mistake, as books are left unread and quite often wind up being late returns. Instead, use the library to just find one or two books in your area at a time. That way, you’re more careful with your selection, you’re more likely to actually finish what you check out, and you’re less likely to accrue fines.
Start with the popular “survey” books in that area. Don’t jump in with an obscure book in the area you want to learn more about. Instead, choose a more general book that covers your area of interest broadly. Instead of diving straight into Kant or Nietzsche, choose something like Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy. That way, you can start off with a general background in your field of interest.
Choose challenging books - but not too challenging. An appropriate book is one where you don’t already know all of the ideas before you pick it up, but you’re not completely lost by the end of the first or second chapter, either. You can usually figure this out by reading through the first chapter or two right at the library or bookstore. If it’s over your head, don’t be ashamed at choosing something simpler - you might find that after reading a few other books, that first hard book isn’t really so hard after all.
Don’t worry about the speed of your reading. Many readers write to me, worried that they’re not reading fast enough. My advice is usually that they’re not reading slow enough. Don’t worry about how fast you’re reading. The point of reading is to understand and absorb the ideas, and that’s a process that simply goes at different speeds for different people. The key to reading is to make sure that you’re picking up the ideas - speed will gradually come with practice as your brain becomes attuned to the process of reading.
Couple your reading with extensive use of online resources, especially Wikipedia. Whenever you hit upon something in a book that you don’t understand, don’t keep rolling. Stop. Do some research into the point that you don’t understand. Look up key terms and facts online - Wikipedia is a great place for this. When I’m reading a suitably challenging book, I might find myself stopping on every page to do this, but when I do it, I can move forward in the book without trouble or confusion.
Always try to extract the main point from what you’ve just read. At the end of each reading session, make an effort to try to identify what the main point of what you just read was. What did you learn from it that’s actually valuable? What did the piece you just read tell you about the broader subject in question? These are great things to think about and journal about.
If a book is boring you, figure out why. Some books are going to be exciting. Others are going to be boring. When you read a book that’s boring, don’t force yourself through it. Instead, stop and ask yourself why you’re bored. Is it the writing style? If so, find a similar book by a different writer. Is it the material itself? If so, you might be investigating an area you really don’t care about too much. If you continually force yourself to read things that are boring and unappealing to you, you’ll eventually begin to define reading itself as boring and unappealing - and that would be a huge mistake.
When you finish a book, reflect on the portions that really spoke to you. In virtually every book I’ve ever read, when I close that last page, some portion of the book sticks in my mind above all others. There’s almost always a thought or two that really speaks to me - and that’s what I want to remember from the book. These key thoughts and ideas are the ones where the book has really influenced your thinking - and they’re well worth jotting down to reflect on later.
Use those “influential” portions as a guide for future reading. The portions of a book that really spoke to you are often great guides for things you should read next. For example, if you were reading History of Western Philosophy and you were particularly struck by how philosophers reflected on great social change, you might want to follow up with philosophical works in that specific area. Doing so not only provides you with exciting reading, it also shines a light on you and what your true interests and ideas are.
Seek out people to discuss your reading with. Whenever I finish a book of note, I almost always go online and seek out places where people have written about the book to see if they drew similar conclusions to my own. Sometimes I find that people have the same ideas as I - other times, they have a completely different take. In either case, I learn even more from discussing the book and reading what others thought about it.
Give a “thirty day trial” to any new tactics you picked up. If the book has taught you a new tactic or two to try in your own life, give those tactics a concerted “thirty day trial.” Make a serious effort to try it out for thirty days and see whether or not it has the impact or results you were expecting. It may be something as simple as observing how people act, or it might be as complex as a new way to work, but you’ll never know how powerful it is until you actually try it.
Keep your eyes open for situations where you might apply your new ideas. Another way to integrate the things you learn into your daily life is to be conscious of situations where you may be able to apply these things. For example, let’s say you read a book on how to handle angry customers. It’s well worth your while to keep your eyes open for customers who are reacting negatively towards their service. Another example: if you learned about a new computer programming technique, look for opportunities to actively apply that technique. Actually doing the things you’ve learned about can go a long way toward making them a natural part of your life.
Ginger is one of those foods/herbs that we do not use enough.
I had read that a spoon of ginger in a pot of beans, helped eliminate the gasses they produce.
Thanks for posting this, it had been awhile since I read it or one like it.