Here is some much awaited good news for diabetics who are looking for a natural way to treat the disease. A new study suggests that supplementing with ginger or using it to flavor food and beverages, may protect against obesity and chronic disease like diabetes.
While scientists and health experts haven’t yet zeroed in on the exact dosage for preventive purposes, they do concur that consuming more of the spice is both a prudent and wise health decision.
The review, published in the Annals of New York Academy of Science looked at some 60 studies, performed on cell cultures, lab animals and humans and concluded that ginger and its major constituents exert helpful effects that combat obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and related disorders.
The authors, from China’s Agricultural University, focused their investigation on the different aspects of metabolic syndrome, a combination of three or more risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Metabolic syndrome continues to explode into the world, reaching towards pandemic proportions affecting close to a quarter of the world’s population.
Potential strategies to combat metabolic syndrome, include non-pharmaceutical options. And one of the most widely consumed spices on the planet, ginger, has been used as herbal medicine to treat a variety of ailments for thousands of years. The scientists behind the study believe that ginger’s various phytochemicals and antioxidants are at the core of its potential to combat metabolic syndrome.
The paper describes ginger as a super food that performs a role in fat burning, carbohydrate digestion, and insulin secretion, to name just a couple of its potential healing actions. The fact that ginger can inhibit oxidative stress (a form of cellular aging), coupled with its anti-inflammatory properties and its ability to lower cholesterol and blood pressure make ginger an essential spice that no kitchen should be without.
Although the evidence for these benefits is more pronounced in animal and test-tube studies than in human samples, the study authors point out that when fed to rats, the spice has been shown to significantly reduce body weight and systemic inflammation, lower cholesterol and blood sugar and protect against the harmful effects of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Studies that have focused on the affects of ginger on humans have not been able to determine whether capsules, tablets or powders are the best way to deliver the spice.
“The field is in its infancy in terms of assessing the impact of various spices on health in humans,” says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University, “But the research is very promising, especially the in vitro and animal research.”
For now, St-Onge encourages people to include the spice in their diet. If nothing else, she adds, “using different flavorings like ginger is always better than putting salt on your food.
