A new study has shown that taking raw ginger in small amount every day reduces the strain on muscles after a workout.
Ginger has long been used as a remedy for nausea, but recent research has suggested it has other powerful properties, reports the Daily Mail.
One lab study showed powdered ginger could kill ovarian cancer cells.
In the latest experiments, American scientists gave participants 2g of raw ginger, or a similar amount of heat-treated ginger as some evidence shows heat treatment boosts the spice's potency for 11 days.
A third group was given a placebo. They were then put through a series of testing arm exercises.
The results showed that 24 hours after exercise, pain levels in the raw ginger-eating group were 25 per cent lower than those on the placebo.
And in the heat-treated group, pain levels were 23 per cent lower.
Researchers say this supports anecdotal evidence that ginger has a pain-killing effect.
The results have been published in the Journal of Pain.
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Forget the aspirin and Big Pharma pills for your muscle pain. According to a new study just reported in the Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, daily doses of raw or heat-treated ginger effectively relieve muscle aches and discomfort -- and that includes even severe pain following strenuous exercise.
For centuries, ginger has been used by practitioners of Chinese medicine and by traditional Indian and Japanese healers to treat a host of conditions including vomiting and nausea, chronic coughs, morning sickness, gastrointestinal complaints and migraine headaches. It has also been used to treat both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. However, Western medicine has only recently started to seriously study the medicinal qualities of ginger.
So far, several studies have shown that ginger appears to have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties similar to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but without the side effects (which can include gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers). In one study, taking a daily dose of ginger (30 to 500 mg.) for four to 36 weeks successfully reduced knee pain in people suffering from osteoarthritis.
Now, in new research from the University of Georgia and Georgia College and State University (GCSU), scientists have found even more evidence that ginger is a potent muscle pain reliever. The scientists worked with seventy-four student volunteers who were divided into three groups. One group was given raw ginger, one group received heated ginger and the third group received a fake ginger placebo.
Muscle pain was induced in the volunteers by having them perform 18 eccentric muscle exercises. Then the research subjects were tested on 11 consecutive days to see if those taking the ginger had reduced muscle aches and pains. And they did -- dramatically. The results showed that both raw and heat-treated ginger lowered muscle pain intensity by 25 and 23 percent, respectively.
More breaking ginger news: in a study just reported in the journal Pediatric Blood and Cancer, researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi have documented that ginger significantly reduced nausea and vomiting in children subjected to chemotherapy for cancer. In addition, new research published this month in the journal Molecular Vision suggests ginger may prevent or delay the development of cataracts in diabetics.
Ginger has long been used as a home remedy for ailments like colds and upset stomachs. But research has now found that daily ginger consumption also reduces muscle pain caused by exercise.
While ginger had been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, its effect on experimentally-induced human muscle pain was largely unexplored, said Patrick O’Connor, University of Georgia professor in kinesiology.
It was also believed that heating ginger, as occurs with cooking, might increase its pain-relieving effects.
O’Connor directed two studies examining the effects of 11 days of raw and heat-treated ginger supplementation on muscle pain.
Collaborators included Chris Black, University of Georgia assistant professor of kinesiology, its doctoral student Matt Herring, and David Hurley, its associate professor of population health.
Participants in the studies, 34 and 40 volunteers respectively, consumed capsules containing two grams of either raw or heat-treated ginger or a placebo for 11 consecutive days.
On the eighth day they performed 18 extensions of the elbow flexors with a heavy weight to induce moderate muscle injury to the arm.
Arm function, inflammation, pain and a biochemical involved in pain were assessed prior to and for three days after exercise.
The studies showed that daily ginger supplementation reduced the exercise-induced pain by 25 percent, and the effect was not enhanced by heat-treating the ginger.
“The economic and personal costs of pain are extremely high,” said O’Connor, according to a University of Georgia release.
“Muscle pain generally is one of the most common types of pain…Anything that can truly relieve this type of pain will be greatly welcomed by the many people who are experiencing it,” O’Connor said.
The study is slated for publication in the September issue of The Journal of Pain and is currently available online at www.jpain.org/home.
