Ginger can be quite delicious in soup, or go along well with a California roll. What we may not realize is that ginger has many medicinal properties, especially when dealing with inflammation. Ginger root has been eaten and used medicinally for a very long time. In several ancient cultures, ginger was attributed with spiritual and healing properties; it was even described as an aphrodisiac in the middle-eastern tales of Arabian Nights! With today’s technology and advanced scientific methods, scientists have been able to back up the idea that ginger has more to contribute than just flavor.
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According to an article in the Natural Product Communications Journal, gingerol (the main active compound in ginger) can help prevent and/or treat certain ailments due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. An article from the PLoS Journal explains that gingerol has also been shown to slow down the division of colon cancer cells. Of course, it is unlikely that through eating ginger alone we will cure diseases such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or lupus; however, we can use what we know about how chemicals in ginger work, whether it’s decreasing inflammation or inhibiting cancer cell proliferation, in order to create new drugs and treatments for these diseases. In the meantime, it definitely wouldn’t hurt to incorporate ginger into your diet regimen!
As for how you can get your dose of ginger, there is a variety of ways to incorporate it into everyday meals! You can try ginger curry, pair it with sushi, or grate it on top of a tasty salad. Either way, you will get all of the health benefits from ginger, and you will treat your inner foodie to a world of flavor.
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A good way to drink and receive all the benefits from ginger is to make ginger water. It is fairly easy to make, all you have to do is slice up a piece of ginger and put it in water. You can even add a few slices of lemon or cucumber if you’d like. This is a refreshing and delicious way to stay hydrated and incorporate more ginger into your diet. If you have caught onto the latest health trend and have a snazzy juicer, you can add a piece of ginger into your daily juice recipe and drink it that way. Juicing a small piece of ginger adds almost no ginger flavor but adds a whole lot of nutrients.
Finally, if you have bionic taste buds and cannot handle the taste of ginger even in small amounts, luckily for you there are also supplement pills you can buy at natural food stores. So there really are options for everybody! Hopefully now that you know how beneficial ginger is, you will incorporate it into your diet.
Feature Image Source: Delphine Ménard
