Zingiber officinale: Its Ethanobotanical Uses, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacology

Abstract

Zingiber officinale Roscoe is a well-recognized herbal plant throughout the world. Ginger is not only consumed as dietary spice but has also been employed in the traditional medicinal systems as herbal remedy since antiquity. Ginger offers health benefits mainly attributable to many bioactive phytochemicals including phenolic compounds, terpenes, flavonoids, carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, and many more. The principle phenolic compounds in ginger that lead to a plethora of biological activities are gingerols, shogaols, and paradols. Rhizome is an essential nutritional and medicinal component of ginger. The volatile components impart characteristic aroma or fragrance to ginger. This spice is traditionally used to relieve pain, constipation, digestive troubles, fever, cramps, inflammation, hypertension, dementia, and infections. Accumulated evidences have illustrated that ginger and its derivatives exhibit multiple pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiemetic, anti-obesity, antimicrobial, anticancer, cardioprotective, and neuroprotective. Ginger thus can be used as potent and innovative therapeutic alternative for the prevention and management of acute and chronic disorders. This chapter highlights current knowledge about the ethanobotanical uses, phytochemicals, and biological activities of ginger and suggests that this updated information will be fruitful for researchers to investigate novel and unexplored applications.