We all know ginger is the superstar of the species. But it also contains a ton of health benefits. So much so that there is no doubt about calling it a superfood. Ginger is known for its strong aroma that works equally well with sweet and spicy food. Today, thousands of recipes need ginger as an essential part. You may also find some in your kitchen now. But how does it affect our well-being? What are the roles of the different components found in ginger?
Hi, we are Team My Organic BD. A team of nutrition experts, microbiologists, and health professionals is working passionately to share in-depth and digestible insights about organic wellness. After weeks of research, discussion, and experiments, here is our article about ginger.
As food experts, we know ginger root contains some of the best benefits for human health. But when we dived and analyzed each component, we had another level of love for this common spice. It has amazing antioxidant, anti-microbial, heart-friendly, anti-diabetic, and digestion-aiding properties. It helps with inflammation, nausea, weight loss, and many other wellness issues.
In this article, we will start with an introduction and types. Then go through the fascinating history, and how it became so popular globally. Later, we will dive deep into the nutritional facts, benefits, and other wellness-related discussions. We are sure it is going to be mind mind-altering article about ginger.
Let’s start.
What is Ginger? An Introduction
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) plants store their nutrition in their roots. Its roots are used as a spice, traditional wellness and remedy supplement in different parts of the world. It is from the Zingiberaceae family. Cardamom and turmeric are also from the same family. There are many types of ginger, but 2 types of ginger are the most common. Common ginger and Thai ginger. Different ginger types may contain different potencies and textures. But they have somewhat similar properties, which makes it unnecessary to go through every one. In this article, we will discuss more common ginger that you find near grocery store.
The world consumes over 4 million tons of ginger every year. More than 40% of that comes from India. Check out Herbs and Spices Essential: Popular List, Health Benefits & Uses.
Is ginger a superfood?
This is definitely a superfood. There is no widely accepted definition of superfood. But in our analysis of the Superfood Industry, we came up with a definition that no one can strongly disagree with. The term superfood might over marketed. But superfoods are just food with definite superior benefits. But no superfood is capable of providing good health alone. No tribe lives on only salmon or ginger. We categorized the superfoods into a few groups. They are superfoods with a variety of nutrients, superfoods with special nutrients, and superfoods with special abilities.
In that context, ginger basically falls into the special ability superfood category. It comes with several medically proven abilities that have good potential for human health. Also, it’s important to note that glorifying ginger is not our goal. Many benefits are not yet proven medically. We aim to provide honest insights for our readers. Before going into that part, let’s go through the history of ginger.
History of Ginger
Ginger is from Southeast Asia. There is a popular proverb in the Indian subcontinent that translates to “Why should a ginger merchant bother about ships?” It is said that when someone is bothered about larger things than he is capable of handling.
Ironically, Ginger is the first item that was shipped from Asia to Greece, the Roman Empire, and other ancient civilizations. It was super popular and rare in many ancient civilizations. Ginger plants were also carried with the sailors to prevent scurvy. Fresh ginger has a good amount of vitamin C, which is essential to protect from different diseases while crossing the ocean.
In Asia, people did not care much about this super spice. But in other parts of the world, it was rare and precious. According to some historical notes, only the Roman royal family could have ginger.
There is evidence that Austronesian people used to cultivate several species of ginger along with turmeric around 3000 BCE. It was one of the common spices in their culture. Ginger also had religious importance in Austronesian civilization.
They introduced ginger in India in about 1500 BCE. They spread ginger in many different parts of the globe, as far as Madagascar. India was the heaven of spices. Even today, most of the world’s spices are produced in India.
There was much ancient evidence, but the history starts with the written ones. The first written evidence of ginger is found around 475–221 BCE in China. It was from the discipline of the famous Confucius in the Warring States period in China.
From China, it traveled to India. Indians exported it to Arabs. The Roman Empires were a notable importers of ginger. They used it for different types of illnesses. Preserved and raw ginger were exported to Europe in the Middle Ages. Ginger became a popular spice very quickly in Europe.
This is how ginger spread in many civilizations throughout time. However, written history and archeological evidence can provide us with some definite insight. But it is very possible that ginger was discovered and used even before history started.
Nutritional Facts about Ginger
Now, let’s discuss the nutritional facts of ginger.
Calorie: In 100 grams of ginger, there are 80 calorie. However, no one eats ginger for this. It is also unhealthy to eat a lot of ginger. This spice has a calorie-burning effect. (Discussed more in the later part)
Carbohydrate: Per 100 grams of ginger, it contains 18 grams of carbs. Most of the carb comes from the natural sugar and fiber of the ginger. The fibers are always good for digestive health. Again, this spice is taken in small quantities. This is not an ideal source of carbs. But it certainly has mild energy-boosting effects.
Vitamins:
This super spice contains Vitamin C, B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), and trace amounts of vitamin E. Let’s go one by one, each vitamin.
C: There is around 5 mg of Vitamin C in fresh and raw ginger. It is a vital antioxidant for our health. It’s one of the most essential nutrients for skin health and immune function. It is a water-soluble antioxidant. It protects the body cells from oxidative stress. It is also important for the skin protein named collagen. Collagen is also part of our bones.
B1: There is a small amount of vitamin B1 in ginger. It is important for glucose regulation.
B2: Vitamin B2 or riboflavin is important for skin, eyes, and energy regulation. There is a small amount of riboflavin in this superfood.
B3: Vitamin B3 or niacin is essential for protein and fat metabolism. There is a small amount of it in ginger.
B5 & B6: There are small amounts of those vitamins in this spice. They have roles in energy regulation, nerve, and metabolism.
Minerals:
This super spice has a moderate amount of minerals. Let’s discuss them shortly. These nutrients are essential, but they are not the actual reason for ginger’s greatness. We are close to reaching there.
Potassium: Potassium plays a critical role in energy production, muscle contraction, bone, nerve, and mood.
Magnesium: Magnesium helps in energy regulation, muscle function, heart function, and bone, nerve, and mood improvement.
Calcium: Calcium in ginger works for bone health, muscle, nerve, blood clotting, and heart function.
Iron: Iron is an essential component of blood. It supports metabolism and aids immunity.
Manganese: There is a small amount of it in ginger. It’s important for bones, carbohydrates, and regulating blood sugar.
Phosphorus: Phosphorus is essential for bone health, energy production, cell development, and overall cellular health.
Copper: Copper works for red blood cell formation, iron metabolism, and connective tissues.
Zinc: Zinc works for growth, reproductive health, and recovery.
Selenium: Selenium works for reproductive health. It’s also essential for antioxidant and thyroid functions.
(Check out Nutrients 101 – The Building Blocks of Organic Healthy Living to know more.)
Apart from vitamins and minerals, ginger has some other molecules that provide a lot of benefits. Let’s learn about them in this section below:
Benefits of Ginger
There are more than a dozen benefits of ginger. Most of them have science-backed benefits, but some of the benefits need stronger proof. Let’s discuss them all and understand what you can expect from this super spice.
Immune system boost
Ginger has proven benefits in boosting the immune system. They help make the immune cells stronger and fight against foreign pathogens. It can be especially beneficial for elderly people as they have weaker immune systems. It contains components like gingerol and zingerone, which have antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. They fight against free radicals, which can greatly improve wellness.
Note –
Free radicals are molecule that seeks electrons in our body. By stealing electrons, they can become stable. Those molecules attack the body and immune cells and damage the cells by stealing electrons. This works like a chain reaction and damages millions of cells in our body. Antioxidants provide those electrons and protect the body from oxidative stress. Free radicals enter our bodies through inorganic food, smoking, breathing polluted air, etc.
Anti-inflammatory property
This super spice has proven benefit to reduce inflammation. Inflammation is our body’s response system for injury or infection. By that response, the body tries to protect itself. Although it’s a vital mechanism, but often causes suffering. For example, ginger can reduce the immune response to colds. Runny nose, sneezing, and cough are all inflammatory. Gingerol and shogaol block the inflammatory pathways of our body and help relieve the symptoms. As we already mentioned, it not only relieves the immune response, but it also works with the immune system to fight the pathogens of colds and cure the infection faster. We can include many benefits in this part. Let’s go through some of them.
Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are diseases of the immune system. In simple words, in those diseases, our immune system starts attacking our own bone cells. Ginger, with its anti-inflammatory properties, can easily relieve pain and keep symptoms under control.
This has an excellent ability to relieve pain. After a workout, injury, or similar cases, ginger can be a natural painkiller. It can make menstrual pain more manageable. The anti-inflammatory traits of this can be an excellent home remedy against many diseases, pain, and inflammatory issues like allergies.
Heart health
Ginger has proven benefits for heart health. The gingerol protects the heart from stress, helps regulate blood pressure, and maintains more stable blood flow. It relaxes the heart muscle and the walls of blood vessels. By lowering blood pressure, it reduces the chances other heart diseases.
Gingerol also helps in the smoother transport of oxygen and nutrients to the body. It protects the body from blood clots, which improves the blood circulation of the body.
Several studies suggest that ginger also helps to reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise good cholesterol. This is a massive benefit for the heart as the LDL causes plaque buildup in the arteries and prevents heart disease. Only with its heart-friendly characteristics ginger can be awarded as superfood. But surely it contains a lot more than that.
Potential Cancer Prevention
Many studies suggest that ginger can be effective in protecting several types of cancer. Gingerol and shogaol are the primary molecules that have anti-carcinogenic properties. The anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties block the carcinogen’s path to damage to our body cells. It may result in protection from cancer. Colon cancer is one of the most common types of cancer today. This is because of our weird ultra processed modern food habits. Studies show ginger can protect from colon cancer. It may also protect from breast and ovarian cancer.
The active biomolecule of this spice enhance cellular pathways. It also includes apoptosis, which means programmed cell death. When our body cells act weirdly or change their formation, our body goes through apoptosis to kill the cells to protect the body from cancer growth. This function occurs all the time in our body, and ginger facilitates it.
Nausea and Vomiting
In Indian trains, small packets of dried ginger are sold to the passengers. This helps the passengers get relief from motion sickness. It has potential benefits to reduce nausea and vomiting, but more research is needed to learn the actual pathway of the process. However, with existing papers and real-life examples, it is somewhat evident that ginger has a nausea-reducing ability. It can also help with morning sickness. Generally, 4 cups (960mg) of ginger tea is safe without any concerns.