It’s time to follow up my last post here at Health Image, where I looked at the health giving properties of the humble onion. Well, in this instalment of this exciting series on health foods I’ll take another one to look at more closely. In fact, this is not so much a food item as in the sense of a vegetable or fruit as such, but its used more as a spice, or flavouring. I’m talking about ginger.

Ginger is commonly known as root ginger. However it is not actually a root, but the under soil “stem” of the plant that throws up its sword-like leaf bearing branches from ground level.

Ginger has for many centuries been used as a healing medicine. The Chinese used ginger to cure many ailments. The ancient Greeks also made use of its healing powers, in fact Pythagoras was known as a great supporter of this plant.

Today, modern medicine has come to know that ginger possesses some extremely useful healing properties.

A formal study on motion sickness at the Phytotherapy Research Laboratory in Salt Lake City was done by spinning motion sickness-prone students. They were divided into two groups – the first group was given Dramamine, the propriety motion sickness drug. The other group was given ginger.

The results found that the group given ginger withstood the full six minute spin with little nausea and dizziness. The other group stopped the ride within four and a half minutes!

In Japan, researchers believe the chemicals known as gingerols found in ginger may be the active ingredients that are responsible for blocking the body’s vomiting reflex. A quarter of a teaspoon of ginger taken 20 minutes prior to a car or boat ride should last for around 4 hours. By way of an alternative, the ginger can be cut into slices and boiling water poured over to make a healthy ginger tea.

In Denmark, researchers have discovered that ginger has the ability to block the effects of prostaglandins. These are substances which cause inflammation of the blood vessels in the brain that lead to migraines. Results are still in the experimental phase, but a third of a teaspoon of fresh or powdered ginger can be taken as you feel a migraine approaching to help stop pain before it starts.

Ginger has also been found to bring a marked relief from arthritis pain. Danish researchers recommend using a dose of half a teaspoon of fresh or dried ginger (or drinking as a ginger tea) is a great relief for arthritis pain.

A researcher at the Cornell University Medical College discovered that ginger has a similar effect on blood clots as that of aspirin. It also appears that high cholesterol levels can be lowered using the same active ingredient, which is thromboxane.

Ginger has always been used as a digestive aid, so adding to cooking will not only give bland food a real bite, it will help you to digest it better too!

Ginger tea is particularly useful taken with honey and lemon in order to help combat colds and flu. It works as a mild decongestant and loosens catarrh. Ginger’s natural warming action also helps the body to sweat, so it is important to remember to keep well wrapped up against the cold.

Here is a neat storage tip:

As fresh ginger isn’t always available in shops, you can keep a large piece of the stem in the freezer. When you want to use it in cooking, simply grate it over your food as you cook with a fine cheese grater while its still frozen. Then return what’s left to the freezer for the next time you need it. Now that’s a better way of making use of your freezer instead of cramming it full of food you’ll probably never get around to eating!

Terry Didcott
Health Image

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