BS, Dietetics and Nutrition
Ginger, ginger, ginger. It’s such a pity I associated this word only with gingerbread men cookies with a green and red Christmas setting.
As time flew by, I had to cut out the carb guilty pleasure, but luckily, I found out that the pungent and flavor ginger had healthy perks.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I reluctantly think of a flu period is a good old mug of ginger tea.
But besides that, ginger even has weight loss properties, and that’s mostly how I got involved in the ginger brewing game.
1. Helpful aid in weight loss
It isn’t hard to guess which perk I was excited to find out. A recent study shows that taking a cup of freshly brewed ginger tea promoted a full stomach among tested subjects.[1]
Most of them had low hunger levels when tested afterward, and that specific high level of satiety was explained with the thermic effect ginger has on a full stomach.
The whole idea sounds thrilling. Personally, I imagine a perfect day with my stomach being somewhat full when I come back from work.
So I think it is enough motivation for you to ginger up your day a little bit with a cup of tea.
TIP: One cup of ginger tea in the morning with your regular cereals should be good as a starter point. Mixed with zesty lemon, it is certainly a one-of-a-kind spicy and fresh blend created to help you control weight.
2. Amping up cardiovascular health
As the weight loss property was listed first by my very biased opinion, I’m aware (and you are, I suppose) of the steady rise of cardiovascular diseases.[2]
Well, the root of basically every cardiovascular disease out there is in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation.[3]
Ginger root is full of studied ingredients such as gingerols, shogaols, parasols, and zingerone.
But luckily, a study[4] has shown that a stand-out-of-the-crowd ingredient called [6]-shogaol, found in ginger, acts as a natural inhibitor of VSMC proliferation.
Is that an atherosclerosis goodbye? Not exactly the cure, but pampering your day with ginger tea is a research-driven path to the prevention of nasty cardiovascular diseases.
However, there’s always too much of a good thing at a particular limit.
If you battle some heart diseases, it is best to consult your doctor before even thinking about consuming ginger tea regularly. It is shown that some of the ginger ingredients could interfere with heart disease medications.[5]
3. Relieving menstrual discomfort
Dysmenorrhea is a medical term for painful menstruation, mostly relating to those wicked cramps girls and women face every month.
Of course, it has its categories where the first one is dysmenorrhea based on an already present reproductive organ malfunction, and the second isn’t based on identifiable sources.[6]
However, due to the frequency of the second type of menstrual discomforts, various aids have been discovered through time, and one of them is ginger tea (you got that one right!).
The research was carried out on a sample of students battling dysmenorrhea, and they were separated into two groups.
The first one had been given a ginger powder, and the second one placebo. What’s more, they had two intervals in the study.
At first, they were given the medication three days prior plus during the menstrual period, while in the second interval, they took it only during the menstrual period.
Significant pain indicators were measured. The aftermath was that the ginger group during the first interval had lower pain levels than the ginger group in the second interval of the study(of course, the pain level has been measured compared to the placebo group).
On the other hand, a much more significant difference has been achieved when measuring pain longevity.[7]
So to sum up, doctors have proven that a good way to battle awaited dysmenorrhea (as it isn’t an of a sudden discomfort, all women are aware of that!) is to have some tea a few days before the cycle, and the relief surely won’t be absent.
4. Facing muscle soreness
Due to the known anti-inflammatory properties, it isn’t hard to conclude that maybe ginger can provide muscle soreness relief.
You know that inevitable feeling when suddenly you want to be fit and lose weight, but the pain comes a few days after the workout sessions.
It was a nightmare for me when I started to be body-conscious, and I can only imagine how hard it is for the hard-working athletes facing that kind of discomfort regularly.
That’s probably why the research was conducted on a group of female athletes.[8]
During a six-week period, they were given ginger, cinnamon, or placebo. And the glorious ginger won again.
The IL-6 level and Likert Scale of Muscle Soreness were tested at the beginning and the end of a study and an improvement was made in the ginger group.
However, if you want to seek muscle comfort from ginger tea whenever you exercise, you should be aware of the principle present in #3.
You should be a long runner if you truly want to see some of the benefits. After all, natural remedies can’t act fast like some over-the-counter drugs.
TIP: Why don’t you switch your water-filled fitness bottle with some freshly brewed ginger tea? It is probably the best way to get muscle relief, but I can’t remember to drink it regularly.
5. Preventing cancer
Strong words? Not so much. Nowadays, we have many foods and ingredients claiming to have cancer prevention benefits such as helping you eliminate oxidative stress[9], etc.…
But unfortunately, some of them aren’t research-packed up and proven.
However, ginger has been used in studies related to several cancer types.
Due to the abundance of ingredients called phytochemicals (concoctions of ingredients present in herbs, fruits, and vegetables), it is shown that some combinations of those ingredients can inhibit prostate cancer cell proliferation.[10]
Various studies have been done before, but they focused on a single ginger-based phytochemical(largely dosed).
But, this one showed that a clever combination of those ingredients could provide help in battling cancer!
It was even statistically shown that the South Eastern population (which uses ginger a lot) has a decreased risk of getting cancer than Americans and Europeans.
Another research was about breast cancer, and it was done in vitro and in vivo.[11]
The anti-proliferation characteristic of ginger is proven by its apoptosis activity in breast cancer cells.
To add more, the same apoptotic induction was concluded on research based on endometrial cancer cells, a cancer type that is, alongside breast cancer, becoming a notorious phenomenon among women. [12]
The key was found in terpenoids; another fancy named a group of ingredients found in ginger that can activate the P53 gene, a powerful tumor suppressor.
Do you fancy a cup of tea now?
6. Nausea treatment
Being a traditional spice in South-Eastern cuisine, through time’s several uses of ginger tea were discovered by the trial-and-error procedure, long before modern researchers.
One of them was battling nausea and vomiting.
Keeping in mind the drug and supplement awareness, mothers-to-be often face warnings about what medications should and shouldn’t take, so they often search for a natural alternative to a well-known pharmacy standard.
One of the problems they face the most is nausea through the first period of pregnancy.
So naturally, doctors have to find a way to assure them that a natural medication is safe for the fetus, and second, effective.
One of the tested ingredients was ginger, and it proved to be the best of both worlds. [13]
Several randomly chosen women were tested throughout their pregnancy, and they were let to choose the ginger intake option, whether it was tea, extract, powder, fresh root, etc.…
The result was the reduced subjective feeling of nausea and less frequent vomiting episodes, packed with no adverse effects for the baby.
TIP: Ginger is the specific herb to prepare and store. Check my how to prepare & store ginger posts for more information properly.
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To sum up, ginger has a lot of benefits most people need to combat their health weaknesses.
As already mentioned, it could be used as a fresh or dried root, powder supplement, or even as a spice in many famous dishes.
But somehow, I know most people overlook ginger when taking it as a supplement as they often find it a burden and forget to take it regularly.
Or they hate it in the dish, as it often gives a unique and specific taste blend that’s not appealing to everyone.
If you’re the described candidate, you should know that the tea is a perfect way of now and then ginger intake, as most people enjoy drinking tea with friends and family.
What about you? What’s your preferred way of including ginger in your diet? Do you have any suggestions for other readers and me to see?
If the answer is yes, I would love to see your feedback in the comments below.
P.S If you prefer classic ginger brewed tea instead of the filtered one (as some people and myself always have the feeling that the water doesn’t get infused enough with the active ingredients when they use the filtered tea), there’s a link to a Youtube video below that shows how to brew fresh ginger tea perfectly. Or check for my 2 ginger tea preparation recipes.
[responsive_video type=’youtube’ hide_related=’1′ hide_logo=’1′ hide_controls=’1′ hide_title=’1′ hide_fullscreen=’1′ autoplay=’0′]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWDjFtNKUYk[/responsive_video]
Resources:
- [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22538118
- [2] http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC2000927/pdf/1175.pdf
- [3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10809377
- [4] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4573514/
- [5] http://healthadvise.online/risks-of-eating-too-much-ginger-root/
- [6] http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/253812-overview
- [7] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3518208/
- [8] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665015/
- [9] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990475/
- [10] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3925258/
- [11] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433172/
- [12] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534047/
- [13] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3995184/
