Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe): A review of its therapeutic uses based on the perspective of modern science and traditional Persian medicine

Background and purpose:

Traditional use of native plants as complementary medicine has been grown during the past 20 to 25 years, worldwide. Ginger, with the scientific name of "Zingiber officinale Roscoe", has been known as one of the useful traditional medicinal plants in the prevention and treatment of diseases. The aim of the present study is to overview the beneficial effects of ginger based on the perspectives of traditional Persian medicine and modern science.

Methods and Materials:

In this review article, all of the papers indexed in the scientific databases including PubMed, Iran medex, Google Scholar, SID, Magiran, and all traditional Persian medicine books using keywords including ginger, Islamic Traditional medicine, health benefits, and modern science entirely were searched and discussed between 2000 and 2018.

It seems that ginger with its hot nature is effective in the treatment of many disorders including nausea, low blood pressure, bladder stones, pain, dysmenorrhea, and bacterial and fungal diseases. Useful components of ginger including gingerol, shogaol, zingerone, zingeberol, and paradol with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-angiogenesis, insulin mimicking, stimulating beta cells, and anti-platelet aggregation properties play an important role in the prevention and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, asthma and bronchitis.

Considering the beneficial effects of the ginger plant, its use as a medicinal herb in the prevention and treatment of diseases is recommended.