Benefits of Consuming Ginger

Ginger is one of the oldest spices which is consumed all over the world since its origin. The reason for this are the numerous benefits of ginger. It is not only used as an ingredient in recipes, but also in medicinal forms. Before going into the benefits of consuming ginger, let us first have a look at the nutritional content of ginger.

Nutritional content in 100gm of ginger

  • Dietary fiber- 3.6 grams
  • Calories- 79
  • Sodium- 14mg
  • Carbohydrate- 17.86 grams
  • Iron- 1.15 grams
  • Potassium- 33mg
  • Protein- 3.57 grams
  • Vitamin C- 7.7mg

The best part of having ginger is that it doesn’t have any sugar content. Having ginger in the winter season is really good for body as ginger provides warmth to the body.

Benefits of Consuming Ginger

Health benefits of ginger

1. Improves digestion- Ginger helps in better digestion as it reduces the sugar level we intake during our meals. It also removes the excess gas being built up in our body as it is a good carminative and thus provides us relief from gastroenteritis and indigestion issues. Having ginger juice along with a pinch of salt and a bit of lemon juice at any time before or after a meal make a huge difference in itself.

2. Treats nausea & cold- Ginger in any form whether eaten raw or in the form of juice will help you treat nausea. This is why, you will often hear during cold, cough people drinking ginger tea as the anti-bacterial property of ginger fights the germs. People suffering from motion sickness can also have ginger while travelling, this would prevent uneasiness and the vomit feeling.

3. Acts as a pain reliever- You can say that ginger and bone health goes side by side. The anti-inflammatory properties of ginger helps in curing joint pains. The organic compounds found in ginger reduces the productions of compound chemokine and cytokines, so that they do not get any chance to attack our body. Ginger has the potential to cure severe headaches like migraine and sinus headaches.

4. Prevents cancer- Ginger gets its anti-inflammatory property from the compound named gingerol, which has the potential to stop the carcinogenic activities in colon which is the cause of colorectal cancer. In recent research, it has also been found that ginger can even cure ovarian cancers but restricting the growth of cancerous cells in our body. in no way, does ginger harms the health cells or their growth in our body.

5. Relief from menstrual cramps- Menstrual cramps are occurred due to increase in the level of prostaglandins in our body during menstruation. So, having ginger during this time can provide you relief from these cramps as ginger has a tendency to reduce prostaglandins levels.

6. Improves cardiovascular health- Scientists believe that very soon ginger will become the main component in making for cardiac problems. The compounds present in ginger help in controlling cholesterol levels especially the bad cholesterol (lipoproteins) diabetes, blood pressure which all can ultimately lead to blockage in heart or any heart disease.

Precaution- Do not eat a lot of ginger during summers.