Your Health and Ginger
The following information is provided as a public information service. All statements regarding benefits or beneficial effects are derived from the referenced articles and literature. The company has made every effort to present a fair and scientific evaluation of the popularly held beliefs of the benefits of ginger-based products.

The company cannot, however, accept any responsibility for the validity of the claims nor for the effects reported.

Based on previous scientific and natural medicine assessments, the company is engaged in formal scientific research to further the knowledge of the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of ginger.

We hope you find the following summary informative.

PAUL RITCHIE
GENERAL MANAGER, MARKETING & SALES

For over 5000 years ginger was revered as the "universal medicine" by the ancient Orientals of China and India and highly sought after by spice traders.

Today, ginger remains a component of more than 50 percent of the traditional herbal remedies and has been used, over the centuries, to treat nausea, indigestion, fever and infection and to promote vitality and longevity.

It is claimed that Ginger can save tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in lost workdays. The world's favourite spice is reputed to have qualities that may prevent heart attacks, arthritis pain, aid digestion, prevent colds and flu, skin cancers and aid weight loss.

Confucius and Pliny praised it, Nostradamus included recipes for wine and ginger preserved in honey and the Koran speaks of a fountain of ginger flavoured water. British University's Professor Roger Collier developed a ginger and garlic cocktail which he claims thins the blood, dissolves clots and lowers blood pressure. Further, these tests showed that ginger cuts down on bad UDL and raises good HDL cholesterol, contains no fat or sugar and can be added to foods to heighten flavour without adding calories.

Preliminary research reported in the International Journal of Obesity in October 1992, shows that ginger boosts weight loss by calorie burning. By measuring a complicated series of reactions in rats, researchers found that ginger made the tissues use more energy.

The best example of ginger's anti-inflammatory potential is in the treatment of arthritis. "According to Paul Schullick's in 'Ginger, Common Spice or Wonder Drug', " trials in Denmark showed that more than three quarters of those tested experienced relief in pain and swelling" Other conditions associated with inflammation are asthma, painful menstruation and migraines.

The Danish studies, also reported in this book, show an amazing side effect when the usual winter colds disappeared. Ginger's anti toxic properties have an anti viral, anti fungal, anti histamine and anti bacterial effect which is basically what we are swallowing with anti-biotics, cold and flu tablets, cough mixtures and aspirin.

Ginger tea brewed from the fresh root has been used in India and China for centuries as an after meal drink to aid digestion. Ginger's enzymes catalyse protein digestion in the stomach quickly and leave little time for nausea. The effect for a normal plane or car traveller, especially children or pregnant women, is obvious.

Case Western University dermatology researchers found that ginger oil helps prevent sun cancer in mice in preliminary tests released last year. Researchers covered mice in ginger oil and then exposed them to chemicals that create cancer. The ginger inhibited the growth of skin cancers on the mice. Research will continue on this path which is of great interest to Queensland which is the skin cancer capital of the world.

But perhaps all this research is just the health professionals re-discovering what their ancestors already knew. The faculty of Medicine founded in Salerno by four legendary physicians included a Greek, a Roman, a Jew and an Arab Doctor. They all taught that good health came from diet and nutrition bound up together. Ginger was included in their medicine as a digestive element and widely used in medieval cooking.

It quenches thirst, revives, excites the brain, and in old age awakes young love again.

Source: Common Spice or Wonder Drug, Paul Schullick; The History of Food, * Murray M. Pizzorno (1991); Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine.

View the Medicinal Properties of Ginger