European Journal of Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Aims: Ginger, a rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Fam. Zingiberaceae), has been widely used as a spice to enhance the flavor of food and beverages and for medical purposes in various diseases.

Methodology: The review covers the databases and articles published between 2002-2013 via Medline and published papers on the Internet from Scientific Information Database, MagIran and Irandoc. Literature searches were performed to identify all the researches on ginger for treatment properties.

Results: The researchers conducted on ginger in medical field were about nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, contraceptive pills nausea, dysmenorrhea, motion sickness, cough, ventilator associated pneumonia, rheumatic diseases, antibacterial and antiviral effects, nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, spermatogenesis, anti-hyperlipidemia, anti-inflammatory, diabetes nephropathy and postoperative nausea and vomiting. Clinical trials about ginger were mostly to prevent and treat nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.

Conclusion: According to the published articles, ginger is an extraordinary herb and more detailed clinical trials using ginger are recommended for further studies in future.