I personally believe ginger is among the healthiest and most medicinal spice on the planet. It has a lot of nutrients and bioactive compounds that have positive effects on the body as a whole. Ginger has both medicinal and nutritional values.
There are several ways you can use ginger; fresh, dried, powdered or as oil and juice.
Let us talk about about some of the health benefits of ginger that have been backed scientifically.
Digestion
The phenolic compounds in ginger help to relieve gastrointestinal irritation, stimulate saliva and bile production. It also helps suppress gastric contractions as food and fluids move through the intestinal tract.
At the same time, ginger also appears to have beneficial effects on the enzymes trypsin and pancreatic lipase, and to increase motility through the digestive tract. This could mean that, ginger could fight colon cancer and constipation.
Fights Nausea
During cancer treatments, raw ginger and ginger tea have been known to help fight nausea. It has almost been known to help during pregnancy, since it helps stop vomiting.
Fights Cold and Flu
Ginger tea has been known to be a soothing way to relieve yourself of cold, to keep yourself warm. This is because it promotes sweating and keeps you warm from within. Put a piece of sliced ginger in hot water for a couple of minutes, you could choose to add lemon or honey for flavour. This drink has added benefits like, it provides you with vitamin c plus its antibacterial properties.
Inflammation
Over hundreds of years, ginger has been used to fight inflammations. A study claimed that ginger reduces the risk of colorectal cancer of some subjects. Another study shows that ginger could help fight inflammations that result from osteoarthritis.
Cardiovascular Health
It also fights cholesterol, it lowers the risk of our blood clotting and helps tocheck our blood sugar level. Though this is not scientifically proven yet, ginger helps in the treatment of heart disease and diabetes.
Ginger as an Antioxidant
Ginger has many components that are strong antioxidants. They include, gingerol and shogaol. These components detect harmful elements in the body and neutralize them. They help prevent many chronic diseases.
Fights weight Gain
Ginger could help us from gaining excessive weight as a result of diet habits. It helps us burn fat quicker and gives us more endurance during exercise to be able to carry out more exercises.
Fights bacteria
Packed with antibacterial properties, ginger fights diseases such as staphylococcus aureus, salmonella, staphylococcus pneumoniae, etc.
Even though ginger may seem to have no side effects, we should the following at the back of our minds;
Some people could be very allergic to ginger. Some could have heartburns from ginger consumption.
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