While ginger is native to Asia, it’s grown nearly everywhere now. It’s readily available in general supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths, but we always ask our clients to buy locally from smaller produce shops if possible. Not only can it be cheaper, it can mean you’re getting fresher produce which is always good.
Ginger has been used as both a food and medicine for thousands of years by many cultures. As early as 4th Century BC, Chinese practitioners worked out that ginger was great for calming and treating nausea, diarrhoea, stomach aches, toothache, bleeding and rheumatism.
Since, it has been used to treat respiratory problems including asthma and the early stages of colds.
Fresh ginger contains lots of helpful gingerol – its most active ingredient – but when it is dried and stored, or frozen, this gingerol converts into other compounds that are yet to be proven useful.
Today, ginger can be safely and effectively used to treat some forms of nausea including morning sickness and post-surgical nausea. We strongly recommend that any patient undertaking surgery consults their doctor before taking medicinal doses of ginger to avoid complications.
Ginger is beneficial to treat nausea not only because it is pure and natural, it works on the stomach/digestive system, not on the brain and inner ear, with other anti-nausea medicines do.
It is unlikely to be of any use in preventing or treating motion sickness, according to comprehensive studies done since 1984.
However, similar comprehensive studies proven almost conclusively that ginger significantly reduced the nausea and vomiting of pregnant women suffering from morning sickness, and with no side effects noted!
While there is no evidence to confirm this, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners firmly believe that taking a hot tea of ginger at the first sign of a cold will likely avert infection altogether.
If you think you would benefit from medicinal ginger doses, contact us for an appointment, never self medicate even with natural products.
