Botanical Name: Zingiber officinale Roscoe, rhizoma
Ginger has been known for thousands of years, with its long history of use leading to a wide diversity of varieties cultivated on different continents.
Constituents
Chemical analysis reveals that ginger contains more than 400 compounds, predominantly sesquiterpenoids such as α-zingiberene, β-sesquiphellandrene, β-bisabolene, α-farnesene, and ar-curcumene (zingiberol), with smaller amounts of monoterpenoids including camphene, β-phellandrene, cineole, geraniol, curcumene, citral, terpineol, and borneol. The distinctive aroma and taste of ginger are primarily due to volatile oils like shogaols and gingerols.
Gingerols (4–7.5%), including [6]-gingerol, are responsible for the pungency of fresh ginger, while shogaols, formed through dehydration during drying or storage, contribute to its pungent aroma. These may further reduce to paradols.
Uses
Culinary Uses:
- Fresh and dried spice
- Beverages (ginger tea, ginger beer)
- Confectionery and preserves (jams, syrups, cookies)
- Natural preservative and flavoring agent
Medicinal Uses:
- Nausea relief (pregnancy, chemotherapy)
- Antiemetic and anti-inflammatory
- Supports digestion (colic, bloating, flatulence, heartburn)
- Pain relief (muscle soreness, arthritis, menstrual pain)
- Antioxidant and immunostimulant; potential prevention of certain cancers (liver, colorectal, colon)
Cosmetic Uses:
- Warming products (ointments, gels)
- Stimulation of scalp microcirculation (anti-hair loss shampoos)
- Antioxidant and smoothing agent in mature skin care
- Fragrance in perfumes and essential oils
🧪 Toxicological concerns
- Ginger is considered safe in food use based on its long history of consumption.
- Full toxicological dossier of different ginger preparation are not available.
- EFSA evaluated ginger essential oil, oleoresin and tincture as sensory additives in feed for all animal species.
- The EMA assessed well-established use of ginger in the prevention of nausea and vomiting in motion sickness. The Agency take into consideration also a few clinical trials with ginger usage.
- Additionally, CIR Expert Panel Group assessed the ginger derived ingredients safe for cosmetic use in current market practices when formulated to be non-sensitizing.
- However, the toxicological data for main actives of ginger are limited. We cannot exclude local effects with its dermal usage. There are some doubts with its reprotoxic effects, as well as ambiguous results with genotoxicity tests (depending on the ginger preparation and used dosage)
- We cannot exclude also problems with ginger assessment by the SCCS Committee, if legislative procedure will require such analysis (due to tox. data lacks vs art.18 of Reg. 1223/2009).
📚 Literature sources:
- CIR (Safety Assessment of Zingiber officinale (Ginger) – Derived Ingredients as Used in Cosmetics, Status: Final Report. 09.01.2023
- EMA (2012) – Assessment report on Zingiber officinale
- EFSA Journal (2017) – Evaluation of ginger oleoresin and ginger essential oil as flavouring substances
- Hindawi Publishing Corporation Gastroenterology Research and Practice (2015), article ID 142979, 11 pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/142979
- Chrubasik S. et al. (2005) – Zingiberis rhizoma: a comprehensive review on the clinical efficacy of ginger
- Shukla Y., Singh M. (2007) – Cancer preventive properties of ginger: A brief review
- Ali B.H. et al. (2008) – Some phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological properties of ginger: A review of recent research – Food and Chemical Toxicology
- Mao QQ, Xu XY, Cao SY, Gan RY, Corke H, Beta T, Li HB.(2019)- Bioactive Compounds and Bioactivities of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe). Foods. doi:10.3390/foods8060185
- Elias Nortaa Kunedeb Sowley and Frederick Kankam (2019) – Harnessing The Therapeutic Properties of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) for the Management of Plant Diseases doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90464
