Wellness Wednesday: February 10
GINGER ROOT
Every Wednesday, we’ll be highlighting a superfood ingredient that’s featured on our menu and explain the uses, origins, and benefits of said ingredient to help you understand just how amazing food can be.
This Wednesday, our feature ingredient is Ginger.
Ginger root—what we use in our fresh, cold-pressed juices—is derived from the flowering ginger plant, originating in Southeast Asia. It can be purchased and used in multiple forms: fresh, dried, powdered, or even in an oil.
While ginger is commonly used as an aromatic spice in the American home, it has been utilized in homeopathic medicine for thousands of years and is believed to have powerful healing properties that stem across a wide range of health issues.
When you first cut into a piece of ginger, you’ll notice it’s strong aroma. That aroma comes from gingerol—a bioactive compound that gives ginger its health properties. This compound is said to help reduce inflammation in the body, aid in the process of digestion, reduce nausea (even morning sickness!) and promote immune health, which is especially important during this winter seasoning when fighting the common cold and flu.
Studies have also suggested that ginger can help improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis, a condition that involves degeneration of the joints, leading to joint pain and stiffness. In one particular study, participants that consumed ginger everyday for a period between 3 to 12 weeks, reported a significant reduction in pain.
Further, ginger can help to treat indigestion as well. Indigestion, especially chronic indigestion, is known to be caused by a delay in the emptying of the stomach, which creates pain and discomfort in the digestive track. With its anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea properties, helps to decrease the amount of time it takes for the stomach to empty, helping your digestive system work quickly and efficiently.
We feature ginger in our Sunrise, MS Highway, and Ginzing juices, our Immunity Boost shot, as well as our Orange Splat protein shake. You can also add it to any juice, shake, or smoothie when you come visit!
E.M. Bartels, V.N. Folmer, H. Bliddal, R.D. Altman, C. Juhl, S. Tarp, W. Zhang, R. Christensen,
Efficacy and safety of ginger in osteoarthritis patients: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials,
Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Volume 23, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 13-21, ISSN 1063-4584, doi.org/10.1016/j.joca.2014.09.024.
Nikkhah Bodagh, M., Maleki, I., & Hekmatdoost, A. (2018). Ginger in gastrointestinal disorders: A systematic review of clinical trials. Food science & nutrition, 7(1), 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.807
Viljoen E, Visser J, Koen N, Musekiwa A. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect and safety of ginger in the treatment of pregnancy-associated nausea and vomiting. Nutr J. 2014;13:20. Published 2014 Mar 19. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-20
Wang, S., Zhang, C., Yang, G., & Yang, Y. (2014). Biological properties of 6-gingerol: a brief review. Natural product communications, 9(7), 1027–1030.