Medicinals plants: GINGER

Scientific name: Zingiber officinale

Fuente:spanishpodcast.org

Zingiber, a genus with a center of diversity in southeast Asia extending throughout tropical Asia and tropical Australia to souther Japan, include about 100 species. Ginger has been known in china and India since earliest times, valued for its medicinal properties and as a potent culinary flavoring  The best known is common ginger. 

Ginger is a robust, herbaceous perennial that reaches a height of more than 20 inches. It has linear, lance-shaped leaves closely hugging the stem. They are about 7 inches long and an inch or so wide,narrowing to a slender tip. Greenish yellow flowers with dark purplish lips crowd into a club like spike one flowers stalk. Many cultivated varieties rarely flower. Most flowering plants are grown for several years as tropical perennials before a bloom appears. The rhizomes, the familiar plant part of commerce, are highly aromatic, with thick, branching lobes, varying in size and shape depending on the cultivated variety.

Growing habits:

Ginger has been cultivated in tropical Asia since ancient times, but its origins are obscure. No wild forms of ginger are know in tropical Asia. Perhaps originating in India,it spread throughout the Asian tropics before recorded history. Today ginger is grown around the world in humid tropical climates.

Like pepper, ginger arrived in Europe at least 2000 years ago. Greek and Roman authors surmised that ginger root was a product of the Arabian Peninsula, since it arrived in southern Europe via Arab trading routes. Long before potatoes  tomatoes, or red peppers arrived from the Americans, ginger was familiar to Europeans who could afford it. By the 13th century, Marco Polo had observed it growing in India and China. Tariff duties were levied on ginger in Barcelona, Paris, and Marseilles. In 14th century England, ginger was second only to black pepper in popularity. A pound of ginger was about equal to the price of 1 sheep. In the 16 th century, Portuguese traders carried ginger from East to west Africa, then to South America. The Spanish established plantations in Jamaica, still known as a producer of high-quality ginger.

Cultivation and Harvesting

Ginger is grown locally and commercially throughout the tropics. It is usually the rhizome's other lobes- with a bd or an eye- that propagate ginger. The first shoots pop up within 2 weeks. Ginger likes a moderately rich loam and warm, humid, sunny conditions.

It is usually harvested about 9 months after planting. Products include fresh rhizomes, dried ginger, preserved ginger, and essential oils.The fragrant oils that come from fresh and from dried roots are sold as 2 distinctly different products.

Therapeutics Uses:

Ginger has antiseptic, expectorant properties, promotes sweating and is taken in decoctions for colds, chills and feverish infections. This traditional use has been strongly confirmed by science. Many human studies have shown that L eases nausea and reduces vomiting in pregnancy, motion sickness, and chemotherapy. A Nationa Cancer Institute study found that if patients take 0.5 to 1.0 g of ginger for three days before and after chemotherapy along with anti nausea medications, nausea is reduced by an additional 40 percent. The way ginger relieves nausea is not completely understood, but current thinking is that compounds in ginger bind to receptors in the gastrointestinal tract that then act to turn down the sensation of nausea and to accelerate digestion, thus reducing the time food sits in the stomach. 

Ginger is being investigated for reducing the inflammation and pain of arthritis. Human studies have shown that ginger relieves osteoarthritis pain in the knees better than placebo but not as well as ibuprofen.

Sip a cup of hot ginger tea on a cold winter night and you will appreciate the warning properties of ginger, as it improves circulation by gentle opening blood vessels in the feet and hands. Ginger tea no only warms yours toes but may keep you from getting sick. Compounds in ginger have been shown to destroy many of the viruses that cause the common cold.

Ginger is taken in tablet form or as tincture for nausea, travel sickness, indigestion, stomach upsets and menstrual pain. The essential oil is taken in drops on sugar lumps for fevers, nausea and digestive upsets, and added to massage oil to ease rheumatic pain and aching joints. It reduces wind and enhances peripheral circulation. 

How to use:

Fresh ginger tea:

Slice one inch f fresh ginger rhizome into small pieces. Simmer in 2 cups water on low heat for 15 minutes. Strain. Drink 1 to 3 cups per day for coughs and colds and to enhance circulation.

Dried ginger tea:

Pour 1 coup boiling water over 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder ans steep for 10 minutes. Pour liquid tea off and discard powder. Drink 1 cup after meals for gas/bloating or to ease nausea.

Capsule:

Take 250 to 5000 mg  2 to 3 times per day.

Extracts:

Concentrated extracts are typically used for osteoarthritis. Use as directed.

Precautions:

• Adding ginger to the diet is safe for young and old. 
• Ginger may possibly cause mild heartburn in some.
• Pregnant wommen should not take more than 1 g of dried ginger per day.
• Do not combine high doses of ginger with anticoagulant drugs (blood thinners) without medical supervision.