Ginger is a spice known worldwide and used in many ways. Ginger can be used to treat some ailment, spice for food, can be used as a concoction or can be enjoyed as a delicacy. Ginger is also used as an excellent food preservatives. In Asia, many locals used this popular spice not only for flavoring certain foods but is used in a variety of ways. Ginger is considered to be a warming circulatory stimulant cleansing herb, with effectiveness for cramping, indigestion, nausea, coughs, sinisitis, and sore throat.
Common uses of Ginger
In India fresh ginger is the main ingredient used in making curries and in preparing vegetables dishes. They also use fresh and dried ginger to spice up their coffee and tea. In China they used ginger in preparing savory dishes. In Japan ginger is pickled and used on noodles. In Korea, they used ginger in making the traditional kimchi as preservative. In the Philippines ginger is used as medicinal drink called salabat to ease sore throat and to restore hoarse voice. Ginger is also used to eliminate the fishy odor and taste from fish and some shellfish.
Ginger is a catalyst in all formulas where circulation to the extremities is needed, (as in arthritis); for respiratory and lung/chest clearing combinations; in digestive system stimulants and alkalizers for clearing gas; as an aid in promoting menstrual regularity and relief from cramping and sluggishness; for all kinds of nausea, motion sickness and morning sickness; as a direct compress with cayenne to stimulate venous circulation.
Secondary Uses of Ginger
Ginger can be used as a catalyst in nervine and sedative formulas; as a gargle and part of a sore throat syrup; as a diaphoretic where sweating is needed for removing toxic wastes; as a stimulant to the kidneys for extra filtering activity.
New Research on Ginger
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center are considering a new use for this century-old health remedy in the treatment of ovarian cancer. The researchers found that ginger caused two types of cell death. One type, known as apoptosis ( the process of programmed cell death ), making the cancer cells to commit suicide. The other type of cell death, called autophagy (self- cannibalism ), the practice of eating oneself or attacking themselves.Ginger is highly effective in depleting inflammation. Inflammation promotes the growth of ovarian cancer cells. By crippling the effect of inflammation researchers speculated that ginger will also prevent cancer cells growth.
“In multiple ovarian cancer cell lines, we found that ginger induced cell death at a similar or better rate than the platinum-based chemotherapy drugs typically used to treat ovarian cancer,” says Jennifer Rhode, M.D., a gynecologic oncology fellow at the U-M Medical School.
