GINGER: THE AWESOME ROOT

BRIEF HISTORY

Ginger dates back over 5000 years. The Indians and ancient Chinese considered it a tonic root that could cure all ailments. It was used extensively by the romans but alamost disappeared from rome when the Roman empire fell. Hmmm! I'm surprised the Egyptians didn't try to worship this one.
The botanical name for ginger is Zingiber Officinale. You know how I always give cool names to the super foods, well I've tried to come up with one for ginger or zingiber officinale and I can't think of anything, so we'll just have to stick with plain ol' ginger. Like the onions and garlic, ginger also belongs to a family but not a family of stinkers like the garlic family but a family of sweet smelling spices. It belongs to the same family as cardamom and turmeric. We don't use cardamom and turmeric in a lot of Nigerian dishes but ginger is a local favourite. Turmeric has a beautiful rich yellow colour and cardamom has a nice aroma but we're not talking about these guys today. Today we're all about ginger.
Ginger is an ancient spice that is coveted for its uses both as a healing plant and as a spice in cooking. It is a beautiful plant that grows to about 4 feet in height and has clusters of flowers in pink and white. It is even used in landscaping in some tropical homes. However the root or rhizome, which is the light brown knobby part we all know, is the most commercially relevant part.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Ginger contains essential oils and as it ages, the amount of essential oils increases, so the intended use of the rhizome or ginger root is determined when it is harvested. If it is for use as fresh or preserved ginger, it might be harvested when it is about 5 months old. At this time the plants have not yet matured. The rhizomes are still tender and not quite as pungent. If the ginger is going to be dried, then  it calls for a more pungent aroma so those plants might be harvested at 8 to 9 months. Ginger, like fine wine, gets better with age. For dried ginger, the rhizomes are boiled or scraped and then dried. The dried ginger are pulverized into ground ginger and that's how we get the powdered ginger in our kitchens. Ginger oil can be extracted from either fresh or dried rhizomes and is usually extracted with a steam distillation process but I'm not going to get into that process because it's a lot of chemistry and frankly it might bore you into a deep sleep. Now let's get down to the meat of the matter.

- Cancer
Several studies have demonstrated  ginger's ability to defeat several types of cancer cells. Now if you've being following my weekly blogs, I'm sure you might have noticed a trend by now- these super foods kick cancers behind to the curb. Onions and garlic have cancer preventive properties but ginger plays by a whole different set of rules. Ginger don't take no prisoners, whoop! Whoop!!. Ginger defeats ( emphasis on 'defeats') several types of cancer cells, including some of the most aggresssive and difficult to treat: lung, ovarian, colon, breast, skin carcinoma, prostrate and pancreatic.

-Diabetes Prevention
Studies have shown that diabetes may both be prevented and treated, along with related abilities to lower blood sugar, cholosterol, and blood fats.

- Antibiotics
Here I was thinking garlic was the ultimate when it comes to bacteria destruction but research has proved me wrong. A study compared the effect of ginger extract in Staphylococcus Aureus and Staphylococcus Pyreus, both of which are mean bacterias of the same strain, and it was discovered that ginger was superior. So garlic is great but ginger is better. Ginger has been shown to have an antibacterial effect on respiratory and periodontal infection.

-Antifungal
Just saying the word 'fungi' gives me goose bumps. I loath fungal infections and I'm sure everyone shares this feeling. Fungal infections are among the most difficult to treat and to make it worse, drug resistant fungi have been developing. However, ginger is here to save the day because it has been found to have antifungal capability, including to drug resistant forms. Take that fungi!!

-Ulcers
Intestinal ulcers can be prevented with ginger. Contrary to what people believe about avoiding ginger if a person has ulcer because ginger is a warm spice and might have the same effect on ulcer patients as hot chilli pepper, the oppoosite is the case. At least one study has shown that a derivative of ginger has been shown to inhibit Helio pylori bacterium. I'm sure you remember mean helly from my post about onions, if you don't then I'll refresh your memory. Helio pylori bacterium a.k.a mean helly is an ulcer causing bacteria. One study has shown that ginger can inhibit existing ulcers too.

-Diabetes Complications
Complications of diabetes like increased protein level in the urine, water retension, nerve damage and increased blood fat levels, may be limited by ginger. It's been shown to increase aldose reductase inhibitors, which reduce damage done by diabetes.

-Inflammation
Inflammation is a serious problem with many chronic conditions, both in terms of causing them and causing pain and ginger can be highly effective in managing it. It's anti-inflammatory abilities may be helpful in arthritis, cancer prevention, prostrate disease, general inflammatory processes. In my last post about garlic, I told a brief story about how garlic helped my mum when she had issues with arthritis but I neglected to mention that ginger was also involved because the post was all about garlic and I didn't want ginger stealing its shine. So she used to add garlic and ginger to her tea or warm water and she saw great results in no time.

-Gastric Diseases
Ginger's ability to ease gastric distress is superior, and it does more than simply ease pain. In a study, ginger capsules were taken orally in people suffering from dyspepsia (indigestion) with slow emptying of the stomach's content. That can't be fun. Ginger stimulated the emptying of the stomach without any negative effects. Ginger has been found to be an antispasmodic (cramps or pains) agent, which helps explain some of its beneficial effects in the intestinal tract. It also protects gastic mucosa (the mucose membrane of the stomach). One of the most uncomfortable things in life is being unable to fart. Your tummy gets bloated, the pain is annoying and terribly uncomfortable and in some cases the gas simply refuses to come out the rear end. Well do not despair my good people, ginger helps get rid of gas, there'll be a little farting involved of course but that isn't so bad, it's just a natural phenomenon,  enjoy it.

-Toxicity
Ginger helps prevent the effect of a wide array of substances, like pesticides, insecticides,  monosodium glutamate (MSG) which happens to be a major ingredient in a lot of processed foods. I remember one time when my  mum declared war against MSG, it felt like the dark age had come upon our kitchen. My mum is a great cook and I'm not just saying that because everybody thinks their mum can cook, she's literally a great cook, I mean come on, she taught me most of what I know and I'm a chef and I rock the kitchen world. So my sweet mum got this conspiracy theory into her head that something or someone was trying to wipe us out using processed food, so she declared war on all stock cubes (maggi), spices and seasonings that come in a jar, sugar, she even banned all types of oil except olive oil, salt, she even placed a ban on palm oil and my nigerian people know how important palm oil is to our kitchen, I mean there's hardly any nigerian soup that is cooked without palm but that didn't shake mama one bit. Then she did the abominable, she used vegetable oil to cook egusi soup (also a nigerian delicacy), no maggi, very little salt infact almost nonexistent and she was so proud of herself.  I wept! I tried to explain to her that cooking a healthy meal doesn't mean the meal has to taste awful but she wouldn't heed my advice. So I decided to wait patiently, I knew she wouldn't be able to keep this war up for long because if there's one thing my mum loves more than eating clean, it's eating a delicious meal. Finally she surrendered and gradually eased back into her tasty food self, she still eats clean and her meals remain delicious.  It was a bloody war, I still have nightmares about it. So if you insist on eating processed food, do yourself a favour and include ginger in your diet but be warned, eating processed food is not eating clean and you know we're all about eating clean at Ravineux catering. The cancer drug doxorubicin damages kidneys, but ginger has been shown to help alleviate the harm. Brombozene is highly toxic, used in chemical reactions, and can rapidly damage the liver and nervous system. Ginger has been shown to alleviate its liver damage. Ginger extract has been shown to protect against MSG nerve damage.

-Non alcholic Fatty liver disease (fructose damage)
Non-alcholic fatty liver disease (NFLD) has a variety of causes but it's now on the increase because of  the prevalence of fructose sweetener. NFLD is known to be associated with dyslipedemia ( abnormal amount of cholesterol in the blood)  and excess fat in the liver. Ginger may help this condition although in the early stages, by lowering serum cholesterol.  Research showing this is very new, so it's hardly definitive.

-Heart Worms  in dogs
I love dogs. I had one for about 15 years and it died in 2008, it still makes me a little sad because it was like a member of the family. I'm sure I have some dog lovers  reading this post and we dog lovers always want our pets to stay healthy and strong. Dirofilia immitis are little monster worms also known as heart worms and are common canine infection. The standard medical treatment are risky, frequently causing neurological disorders amd circulatory collapse. It's therefore quite fortunate that ginger has been shown to be effective against heart worms. The treatment that's been tried is injection of the extract and it does take time. However, after 55 days, an average 83% reduction, up to a maximum of 98% was found. About half the dogs exhibited lethargy early in the treatment, but it's believed to be a result of their body's need to dispose of the worms as opposed to the adverse effect. There's a saying "whoever says diamonds are a girl's best friends, never had a dog". True, but I'd rather have a dog and the Hope diamond any day #JustSaying.

-Menstrual Pains
A study of young women suffering from mentrual pain compared with mefenamic acid,  ibuprofen,  ginger powder in capsules, and a placebo was performed. Ginger was found to be as effective as mefenamic acid and ibuprofen. Who needs pain killers when you've got ginger?!

-Nausea and Motion sickness
Morning sickness, nausea during pregnancy causes misery for a lot of women. Women suffering from morning sickness were given beverages with ginger during the first trimester of pregnancy and compared with women given a placebo. Ginger alleviated the nausea in a highly significant percentage of the women. A trial of taking ginger and protein after chemotherapy demonstrated that patients were able to lessen their intake of anti-emetic medications.

-Bacterial Diarrhoea
The primary cause of death in young children in developing countries is bacterial induced diarrhoea.  The bacteria don't cause it directly rather the toxins they release do. Zingerone, a compound found in ginger, binds the toxins so that it cannot interact with the gut, thus preventing diarrhoea and resultant death. Antibiotics and electrolyte replacement (oral rehydration therapy) are the 'go to' when treating diarrhoea but the long term effects of of antibiotics  are known to be disastrous and antibiotics are expensive. This makes ginger the safer, less expensive treatment for bacteria diarrhoea in children.

Ginger has shown so many health benefits that are too numerous to mention but to everything under the sun, there's an up side and there's a downs side. We've talked about  most of the up sides of ginger, now I'll tell you about the down sides, though not as many as the up sides but they are there and it is important you know them.

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF GINGER

Ginger is almost completely safe. It is possible, though extremely rare, to experience an allergic reaction associated with anaphylactic shock (a life threatening type of allergic reaction) but if that occurs, I think it would be wise to stay away from ginger. Ginger has the tendency to interact with many drugs but in most cases the effect is additive not contradictory. You will probably be adviced by your doctor not to take ginger with these drugs but if it were me, I'll ask the doctor why I can't start the treatment with ginger and then add the drugs if need be but that's just my opinion. Here are some drugs involved;
-Any heart medication
-Diabetes medication, including insulin
-Warfarin
-Aspirin or other NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), diclofenac (Cataflam, Voltaren), piroxicam (Feldene) and others.
-Blood thinners , usually used for deep vein thrombosis (often during surgeries), including ardeparin (Normiflo) and others.

Of course if you take other herbs with ginger, be sure to check if they're blood thinners e.g garlic. If so, you may need to stop either the ginger or the other herb.
In general, for personal use, there are two forms of ginger: extract and raw. Extracts may be purchaed of course but beware that there are two forms of extracts, water and alcohol based. With many herbs, water based extracts are fine. However, alcohol based ginger extract has proven to be superior over and over. Therefore if you're plannimg to use ginger extract medicinally,  you should take the alcohol based variety.
You can buy ginger teas in tea bags, but they're generally not as beneficial as making your own. It's not difficult.  Just peel about a cube inch of ginger. You may either slice or grate it. Boil it in about 1 and 1/2 cups of water for about 10 minutes.  If you wish, you could add a bit of lime or lemon juice. If you want it sweetened,  add some honey. Pour into a cup and enjoy!

So that concludes it for ginger today. Remember if you want clean and healthy food, Ravineux catering is your best bet. Till next week, eat clean, stay healthy, alive and happy. Have a lovely weekend.