Zingiber officinale Rosc. (Zingiberaceae) - Ginger, an essential raw spice
and natural medicine, plays an important role in the kitchen (a food spice) and has
medicinal uses worldwide for health benefits. It is an ancient recipe of Indian systems
of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy. Ginger is one of the
important drugs of the Ayurvedic System of Medicine, known as the universal
medicine (Viswabhesaja), and found in almost all classical formulations of Ayurveda
for the treatment of different diseases, and the majority of Ayurvedic prescription drugs
contain ginger as one of the ingredients. The present paper highlights the use of
Zingiber officinale in the Ayurveda system of medicine in India. In Ayurveda, Zingiber
officinale is used both in fresh (Ardraka) and dry (Shunthi) forms. Description of the
drug appears in almost all pharmacopeia of Ayurveda known as Nighantu (lexicons),
Samhita (treaties), Chikitsagrantha (Compendia), and Rasa grantha (Pharmacopeia),
etc. Dry ginger is one of the ingredients of Trikatu (group of three pungent spices), a
famous Ayurvedic formulation for the treatment of digestive and other disorders.
In Ayurveda, fresh ginger alone or along with other drugs is used in fever, coryza, and
bronchial asthma, cough, disorders due to change of place, inadequate digestion,
diarrhea, anorexia, piles, oedema, abdominal disorders, fainting, urticaria, earache, and
rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
Dry ginger alone or with other medicines is used for fever, diarrhea, loss of appetite,
indigestion, malabsorption syndrome, piles, hyperacidity, abdominal pain, heart
diseases, abdominal lump, diseases of abdomen, oedema, hiccough and bronchial
asthma, cough, alcoholism, rheumatoid arthritis, filarial, diseases of the mouth,
diseases of the ear, eye diseases, diseases of the head, for purifying breast milk,
jaundice and scorpion poisoning, etc.
Recent research works have shown that the drug has nutritional value and has been
clinically evaluated and found to be effective in the treatment of postoperative nausea
and vomiting, excessive menstrual bleeding and dysmenorrhea, cancer, diabetics, and rheumatic disorders, etc. The rhizome is rich in volatile oils (known as ginger essential
oils), containing active compounds such as [6]-gingerol (a phenylpropanoid, pungent
compound found in fresh ginger), [6]-shogaols (a dehydrated form of gingerols formed
when ginger is dried or cooked, responsible for the pungency of dry ginger), zingiberol,
Zingiberone, and α-Zingiberene. The plant has a number of chemicals responsible for
its medicinal uses, including antiarthritis, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antibacterial,
anticancer, antifungal properties, etc.
Keywords: Ardrak, Dry Ginger, Fresh Ginger, Green Ginger, Shunthi, Spice,
Trikatu, Zingiber officinale.
