Ginger, the Herbal Remedy Which Promotes Weight Loss

By Kyle J. Norton

On seeking natural therapy with no side effects, scientists may have a vegetable in the induction of weight loss, according to studies.

Weight loss is a process that intentionally reduces the total body mass, through the decrease of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue or lean mass.

Due to the widespread obesity in North America (over 68% of the US population is either overweight or obese), many weight loss products were created by manufacturers. The weight loss products is a 66 billion business in the US, according to the statistic provided by the Marketdata LLC research firm. And the business continues to grow at a rapid rate.

Is the weight loss products worked? I don't think so. Otherwise, the percentage of the overweight population in the US should be decreased substantially.

In other words, all weight loss products may have a complex structure or a long-term commitment before the results can be seen.

The National Institutes of Health wrote, "You might be surprised to learn that makers of weight-loss supplements rarely carry out studies in people to find out whether their product works and is safe. And when studies are done, they usually involve only small numbers of people who take the supplement for just a few weeks or months. To know whether a weight-loss supplement can help people lose weight safely and keep it off, larger groups of people need to be studied for a longer time.".

In short, most weight products are buy-at your own-risk products.

In fact, everyone knows, the proven ways to lose weight are eating healthful foods, cutting calories, and being physically active.

Dr. Catherine M. Champagne and colleagues in the investigation of healthy diets and weight loss, wrote, "Increased intake of fruits and vegetables was associated with weight loss in Phases I and II: 0.29 kg per 6-months (p<0.0001) and 0.04 kg per 6-months (p=0.0062), respectively, per 1-serving increase. Substitution of carbohydrates for fat and protein for carbohydrates were associated with weight loss during both phases".

And, "Increasing dairy intake was associated with significant weight loss during Phase II (−0.17 kg per 6-months per 1-serving increase, p=0.0002), but not in Phase I. Dietary fiber revealed no significant findings".

The results strongly suggested that if you want to lose weight, you better follow a healthy diet with an increased intake of fruits and vegetables.

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 for the treatment of dyspepsia, gastroparesis, constipation, edema, difficult urination, colic, etc.

Scientists on finding a herbal remedy that has a potential in stimulating weight loss examined the dietary supplements containing green tea, capsaicin and ginger extracts on weight loss and metabolic profiles among overweight women.

The randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial included 50 overweight women satisfied the criteria and guidelines.

Selected candidates were randomly divided into 2 groups. Group A received dietary supplements containing 125 mg green tea, 25 mg capsaicin, and 50 mg ginger extracts (n = 25) group B received placebos (n = 25) twice with lunch and twice with dinner daily for 8 weeks.

Supplement treatment groups showed a significant decrease in weight and body mass index compared to the control.

Women who received the supplement exerted a strong improvement on metabolic profiles including the decreased serum insulin concentrations, insulin resistance (-0.5 ± 0.8 vs. -0.05 ± 0.6, p = 0.01), and increased insulin sensitivity, compared to control.

Futhermore, the antioxidant enzymes produced by the host in the supplement group also was enhanced compared to control.

The results indicated that daily intake of the supplement may have a positive impact on inducing weight loss through improving the body metabolism and antioxidant activity.

Dr, Taghizadeh M and colleagues wrote in the final report, "taking green tea, capsaicin and ginger co-supplements for 8 weeks among overweight women had beneficial effects on weight, BMI, markers of insulin metabolism and plasma GSH levels".

In order to reveal more information about using ginger to lose weight, researchers investigated the effect of ginger intake on weight loss, glycemic control, and lipid profiles among overweight and obese subjects by reaching the medical literature online.

The selection of the quality of the studies is based on guidelines of the Cochrane risk of bias tool.

According to the 14 studies with 473 subjects included in the meta-analysis, supplementation with ginger significantly decreased body weight (BW), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), the hip ratio (HR), fasting glucose, compared to placebo.

Moreover, decreased insulin resistance and significantly increased HDL-cholesterol levels were also observed in the ginger treatment groups.

Surprisingly, ginger supplement showed no effect body mass index (BMI), insulin, triglycerides, total- and LDL-cholesterol.

Dr.Maharlouei N, the lead scientist after taking into account co and confounders said, "Overall, the current meta-analysis demonstrated that ginger intake reduced BW, WHR, HR, fasting glucose and HOMA-IR, and increased HDL-cholesterol, but did not affect insulin, BMI, triglycerides, total- and LDL-cholesterol levels".

Taken altogether, ginger used alone or combined with other supplements may be considered a functional remedy for inducing weight loss in overweight and obese population, pending to the confirmation of larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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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 and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

References
(1) The Effect of Dietary Supplements Containing Green Tea, Capsaicin and GingerExtracts on Weight Loss and Metabolic Profiles in Overweight Women: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial by Taghizadeh M1, Farzin N, Taheri S, Mahlouji M, Akbari H, Karamali F, Asemi Z. (PubMed)
(2) The effects of ginger intake on weight loss and metabolic profiles among overweight and obese subjects: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Maharlouei N1, Tabrizi R2, Lankarani KB1, Rezaianzadeh A3, Akbari M2, Kolahdooz F4, Rahimi M5, Keneshlou F6, Asemi Z7. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary intakes associated with successful weight loss and maintenance during the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial by Catherine M. Champagne, PhD, RD, LDN, FADA, Professor-Research, Stephanie T Broyles, PhD, Assistant Professor, Laura D. Moran, MS, RD, LDN, Clinical Dietitian, Katherine C. Cash, RD, LDN, Research Dietitian/Interventionist, Erma J. Levy, MPH, RD, Research Dietitian/Interventionist, Pao-Hwa Lin, PhD, Associate Research Professor, Bryan C. Batch, MD, Lillian F. Lien, MD, Medical Director, Duke Inpatient Diabetes Management, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Kristine L. Funk, MS, RD, Research Associate III, Arlene Dalcin, RD, LDN, Research Associate, Catherine Loria, PhD, MS, MA, FAHA, Nutritional Epidemiologist, and Valerie H. Myers, PhD. (PMC)