The Safety and Efficacy of Ginger for the Treatment of Disease

Abstract

Many herbal medications are used to treat and prevent diseases leading to growing dietary supplement and functional food markets. Ginger is one of most commonly used as a traditional medicinal plant ever since spices became widely used in Asia. It contains pungent phenolics such as [4]-, [6]-, [8] - [10]-, [12]-gingerols, paradosl and shogaols, which have potent pharmacological actions including anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and chemo-preventive activity. Therefore, many health benefits of ginger are known to mitigate or prevent vascular disease, cancer and infectious disease as well as nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. However, there are few papers concerning its side effects though excessive consumption of ginger can cause adverse effects such as blood coagulation, platelet aggregation. Hence, this short review summarizes and focuses on the side effects of ginger in order to provide basic information to both consumers and medical and scientific professionals. (Cancer Prev Res 16, 288-293, 2011)