Zingiber officinale
Family Zingiberaceae
Part used the rhizomes
Quality: Yang
Element: Water, Fire
Ginger was first written about in 200 BC. It is spicy to the tongue, a soothing digestive, it eliminates intestinal parasites, improves circulation, stimulates digestion and improves liver function. There are two types of ginger important in Chinese medicine the dried and fresh. Dried is much stronger. Dried ginger is used for pains in the stomach, diarrhoea and poor appetite. Fresh ginger is for warming the stomach, alleviating vomiting, and ridding the body of coughs. We are using it as a digestive to warm the stomach.
Reference:
- Hashimoto K, Satoh K, Murata P, Makino B, Sakakibara I, Kase Y, Ishige A, Higuchi M, Sasaki H. (2002) 25. Component of Zingiber officinale that improves the enhancement of small intestinal transport. Planta Med. 2002 Oct;68(10):936-9.
- Sharifzadeh F, Kashanian M, Koohpayehzadeh J, Rezaian F, Sheikhansari N, Eshraghi N. (2017) A comparison between the effects of ginger, pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and placebo for the treatment of the first trimester nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. 2017 Jul 7:1-6.