Ginger, the Natural Anti Oxidative Stress Functional Food

By Kyle J. Norton

Intake one or 2 slices of ginger daily and regularly may have a strong effect in stimulating the production of antioxidant enzymes in the body against the onset of oxidative stress, scientists found.

Oxidative stress is a result of the overexpression of free radicals, compared to the levels of antioxidant in the body.

Free radicals are a highly reactive and unstable atom with the unpaired electron on the outer ring of the molecules, therefore, in order to become stable, they must donate or steal an electron from other stable molecules, leading to the chain activity that can not be stopped until they are paired or inhibited by antioxidants.

There are many factors associated with the production of free radicals, including the food we eat, the medicines we take, the air we breathe and the water we drink.

In other words, free radical can be generated by alcohol, tobacco smoke, pesticides, and air pollutants.

Antioxidants are stable atoms which inhibit oxidation caused by free radicals.

Some researchers suggested the prolonged presence of oxidative stress can cause damage to the cells, proteins, and alteration of DNA, leading to chronic diseases.

Dr. Eiichiro Ichiishi and colleagues in the concern of the effects of oxidative stress on the risks of diseases showed that oxidative stress not only has a strong implication in the development of diseases but also affects the outcome throughout the course of organ transplantation.
Additionally, the team wrote, "Kidney ischemia/reperfusion injury emerges in various clinical settings as a great problem complicating the course and outcome".

"Xeroderma pigmentosum group A (XPA) is a genetic disorder in DNA nucleotide excision repair (NER) with severe neurological disorders, in which oxidative stress and disturbed melatonin metabolism may be involved".

"Renal transplantation has been considered the best therapeutic option for end-stage renal disease,...determine the effect of renal transplantation on the evolution of oxidative DNA status,".

"Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for the development or deterioration of Graves' ophthalmopathy. Smoke-induced increased generation of reactive oxygen species may be involved".

These results indicated the important roles of antioxidants which inhibited the oxidative stress before they can cause a wide range of damage to the human body.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or ginger root, the second superfood used for thousands of years by mankind, is the genus Zingiber, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to Tamil.

The root has been used in traditional and Chinese medicine to treat dyspepsia, gastroparesis, constipation, edema, difficult urination, colic, etc.

With an aim to find the best possible antioxidative stress natural ingredient or whole food, researchers examined the protective effects of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) extract on IL-1β-mediated oxidative stress and mitochondrial apoptosis in C28I2 human chondrocytes.

The cells were pretreated with 5 and 25 μg/mL ginger extract for 24 h, followed by incubation with IL-1β (10 ng/mL) for 24 h.

At the and of the study, ginger extract demonstrated a significant effect in the inhibition of IL-1β-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation. 

Ginger extract pretreatment also remarkably increased the gene expression of antioxidant enzymes.

The elevated levels of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3 involved cells apoptosis were also normalized by the application the of ginger extract.

The finding clearly indicated ginger extract could considerably reduce IL-1β-induced oxidative stress and consequent mitochondrial apoptosis as the major mechanisms of chondrocyte cell death and the efficacy was attributed to its antioxidant activity.

In pulmonary abnormalities tested mice induced by chronic ethanol exposure, researchers evaluated whether ginger extract mitigated pulmonary abnormalities induced by ethanol in rats.

The study included male Wistar rats divided into the control group, the ethanol group, and the ethanol plus ginger extract group.

Ethanol group after six-week of treatment increased the proliferation of lung cells, and induced fibrosis, inflammation, and leukocyte infiltration.

The levels of -hydroxydeoxyguanosine, NADPH oxidase, and oxidized low-density lipoprotein were also found to increase substantially in the ethanol-treated group.

Application of ginger extract normalized such changes by inhibiting the oxidative DNA damage and oxidative stress.

Taken altogether, ginger extract may be considered a natural antioxidative stress ingredient by enhancing the production of antioxidants and protecting the body against inflammation.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(2) Protective Effect of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) Extract against Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Apoptosis Induced by Interleukin-1β in Cultured Chondrocytes by Hosseinzadeh A1, Bahrampour Juybari K, Fatemi MJ, Kamarul T, Bagheri A, Tekiyehmaroof N, Sharifi AM. (PubMed)
(3) Ginger extract attenuates ethanol-induced pulmonary histological changes and oxidative stress in rats by Shirpoor A1, Gharalari FH2, Rasmi Y3, Heshmati E4. (PubMed)
(4) Oxidative Stress and Diseases: Clinical Trials and Approaches by Eiichiro Ichiishi, 1 , * Xiao-Kang Li, 2 and Eugenio L. Iorio. (PubMed)