Ginger is a simple commodity and a daily part of our everyday diet. Mostly, it is used to add variety to our food or drinks. But what most people do not know is that it also has a lot of medicinal properties. Ginger plays many beneficial roles in the treatment of different kinds of ailments. It is a trusted and efficient medicine for an upset stomach, Headaches, menstrual cramps, cough and much more. It is said that ginger helps in the treatment against cancer too. Ginger has been part of human medicine for decades. It has been an age old remedy against regularly occurring ailments. An accepted medicine in the olden days, the Chinese chewed on ginger to stop seasickness. The ancient Greeks would eat ginger wrapped in bread after a heavy meal to help digest well. This eventually evolved into something that we have as part of our regular diet - Gingerbread.

Ginger

A few of the diseases that could be treated very effectively using ginger include nausea, motion sickness, Indigestion and menstrual cramps and cough. There are certain groups of compounds that control nausea. They are known as Gingerols and Shogoals. Ginger acts on the stomach instead of the central nervous system. Due to this, the patient does not feel drowsiness and also does not even have a dry mouth. However, ginger must not be consumed for morning sickness.

Motion sickness could be avoided to a great extent with the consumption of ginger. There are studies that have proved that a gram of ginger is better in preventing motion sickness than 100 mg of some Dramamine .Ginger must be taken about 20 minutes before traveling to prevent motion sickness. Ginger stimulates the bile passage from the gallbladder and helps in digesting better. Ginger also relives gas and acidity. It relaxes the muscles and thus helps bring relief against indigestion and menstrual cramps. Ginger also relieves bloating. If taken before a meal, it helps prevent indigestion and if taken after a meal, it helps digest the food better. Ginger is also effective when mixed in tea. A cup of ginger tea stimulates the right glands and helps secretion of mucus. This eases cough and soothes throat irritation

Besides these, it is said that ginger can helps in treatment of many ailments such as rheumatism, gout, gastric ulcers, allergies, heart problems, high cholesterol and sexual deficiencies. In the future, ginger may also be used to treat cancer. As part of a cancer research, some mice were injected with the extract of ginger. These mice developed fewer skin tumors as opposed to the ones who were not.