It’s all too easy to tout the benefits of certain foods and proclaim them a superfood. We can take almost any food- even if it’s completely foreign to us- and act like it’s the most powerful food on the planet. What I like to do is dive deep into the science and find out for myself before falling prey to catchy headlines and seductive marketing. That way, I’ll know the truth about whether or not I truly need to shell out my hard-earned money over something with theoretical claims. Which is why for today’s food spotlight, I wanted to shine a well-deserved light on ginger, showing you what makes it a genuine hero in my book.

Inflammation Quencher

Look no further than ginger for lowering inflammation. Although it’s cousin turmeric has been getting all of the attention these days, ginger nearly stands on equal footing. It contains a bioactive compound known as gingerol, which is largely responsible for its ability to fight inflammation. Gingerol itself is a potent antioxidant that continues to be studied for its therapeutic effects towards preventing disease. [1]
Thanks to gingerol, a number of pro-inflammatory conditions can find some relief, including osteoarthritis. One controlled study involved 247 participants shows that those taking ginger extract experienced less pain and reduced their pain medications. (So, while ginger didn’t cure them of their pains, it was a great addition to their current treatment. Ask your doctor if adding ginger is right for you if you’re currently having to take pain relievers! It might help you to lower the amount.) [2]

The Athlete’s Secret Weapon

Do you hate the all-too-common post-exercise soreness? Are you training hard with me at the ZGYM or participating in intense activities like CrossFit, professional sports, and marathons? Consider adding ginger to your natural medicine cabinet! Research has shown ginger to be beneficial towards reducing muscle pain, showing that it could at the very least reduce the daily progression of it. [3] One such study even shows that subjects performing elbow exercises were able to significantly reduce their muscle pain just by consuming a couple of grams of ginger for as little as eleven days straight. [4]

Good for What Ails You

Yet another reason to keep ginger in stock is for its ability to relieve a number of ailments. Take nausea for instance. Over hundreds of years it’s been used to help with morning sickness, sea sickness, and digestion-related nausea, and science has soon caught up with what used to be old wives’ tales. In chemotherapy patients, the administration of ginger helped in relieving both vomiting and nausea after surgery, outperforming even the placebo. [5] A large review published in Nutrition Journal analyzed 12 studies totaling up to 1,278 pregnant women even found that ginger had drastically reduced nausea, further supporting its potent effects. [6]
Ginger may also provide relief for indigestion (also known as dyspepsia), helping to reduce the pain and discomfort stemming from the upper area of the stomach. It does so by reducing the time it takes for the stomach to empty out (simply put, it speeds things up), which may help those suffering from upset digestion. A small study on 24 healthy volunteers showed that supplementing with just 1.2 grams of powdered gingered caused a 50% boost in stomach emptying, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at! Time will tell how it may be applied to other digestive-related disorders! [7]
The final thing that ginger may provide is relieving menstrual pain. Otherwise known as dysmenorrhea, the pain that follows a woman’s monthly cycle is no laughing matter. A natural alternative to conventional pain medications may be ginger, with the research to back it up. A study on 150 women showed that taking just a gram of ginger powder for the first three days of menstruation helped manage and reduce pain as effectively as mefenamic and ibuprofen, which are two common pain-relief drugs. [8] Despite this being just one study, it most certainly provides hope for us girls, so feel free to give it a shot and see how it works for you! (Be sure to check in with the doc if things get too intense; if the ginger doesn’t work, there may be a deeper problem at hand.)

Attack on Cholesterol!

Ginger is a team player and can benefit other aspects of our internal health that we may not normally associate it with. This includes balancing cholesterol. As you know, there are two types of cholesterol: LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol, the former being linked to heart disease risk. While there’s no escaping genetics when it comes to cholesterol, lifestyle, specifically diet, plays an enormous role in how much good, bad, and overall cholesterol levels we have in our body. Ginger may just help to tip the scales in our favor when it comes to lowering cholesterol markers. A study featuring 85 participants with high cholesterol found that supplementing up to three grams of ginger powder was able to substantially lower their cholesterol. [9] Another noteworthy study, this time on rats, showed that supplementing with a form of ginger extract helped to lower LDL significantly enough to be compared to the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin. [10] While neither of these studies is meant to serve as claims or cures, they certainly show promise for future interventions towards lowering cholesterol! Hopefully down the line, we’ll be seeing more natural treatments or at the very least combining the best of both worlds from conventional medicine and nature itself!

Time to Dig in!

With all of these benefits in mind, I want to hear from you- how has ginger helped you in the past, or are you willing to start giving it a try? For me, I’ve felt the most benefits whenever I brew it into a tea. Just chop up a half inch or two and boil it in water with a squeeze of lemon. For me, this is my morning herbal alternative coffee, and it’s done wonders. I also love cooking with it and am going to leave you with a few of my favorite ginger-loving recipes so you can get in on the benefits while satisfying your taste buds!

Ginger Scrambled Eggs
Simple Carrot Ginger Soup (FM)
Ginger Chicken with Cauliflower Rice (FM)
Smoothie for Gorgeous Skin (FM)

Sources:

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25230520
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11710709
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21031618
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20418184
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16389016
[6] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-benefits-of-ginger#section2
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18403946
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19216660
[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18813412
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23901210