Herbal Ginger, The Anti Asthma Functional Food

By Kyle J. Norton


Asthma is a medical and chronic condition characterized by the long-term inflammation of the airways of the lungs.

Besides episodes of wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath, patients with asthma also experience symptoms of reversible airflow obstruction and bronchospasm.

Asthma attack in most cases is triggered by exposure to various irritants and substances that trigger allergies (allergens). However, genetic preposition and family history are also found in patients with asthma.

Asthma in some cases can interfere with daily activities and may lead to a life-threatening asthma attack. Treatment of asthma is to reduce the frequent episode and severity of the attacks.

According to the statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the US, 1 in 13 people have asthma. In other words, over 26 million Americans have asthma and half of that is children.

Believe it or not, African-Americans in the U.S. die from asthma at a higher rate than people of other races or ethnicities.

Some researchers suggested that people who follow the Western diet pattern are at a substantially higher risk of asthma.

Dr. Laurent Guilleminault, the lead scientist said, "Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder which is associated with airway inflammation. Environmental factors, in association with genetic susceptibility, play a critical role in asthma pathophysiology" and "some dietary patterns, such as the Western diet, which includes a high intake of refined grains, processed and red meats, and desserts, have pro-inflammatory effects".

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.

With an aim to find a natural compound or whole food for the treatment of asthma, researchers investigated the immunosuppressive activity of ginger by using the mouse model of ovalbumin-induced allergic asthma.

Selected mice were treated with ethanol extract (500 mg/kg) and aqueous extract (720 mg/kg) of rhizomes, and methylprednisolone (5 mg/kg) which was initiated 1 week after second sensitization with ovalbumin and continued for 7 days.

Treated mice showed a significant reduction in goblet cell hyperplasia, infiltration of inflammatory cells in airways, and edema with vascular congestion associated with asthma attacks.

Both ginger ethanol and aqueous extracts exerted a strong effect in modulating the immune response observed by a significant reduction of total and differential count of eosinophils and neutrophils.

Ginger efficacy in the modulation of immune over-response by inhibiting Th2 accompanied by the decrease of levels of proinflammatory cytokines and total serum IgE levels.

Dr. Khan AM, the lead scientist said, "Our study validated the traditional use of ginger in respiratory disorders and suggests that ginger reduces allergic airway inflammation, possibly by the suppression of Th2-mediated immune response".

In order to reveal more information about the ginger anti-asthmatic property, researchers evaluated ginger inflammatory properties in a mouse model.

In vivo, ginger can exert the functions in the inhibition of Th2-mediated pulmonary inflammation observed by reducing levels of proinflammatory and IL-4, IL-5 and IgE expressions.

Similar to the aforementioned study, intraperitoneal injections of the extract on ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized mice resulted in a marked decrease in the recruitment of eosinophils to the lungs.

The efficacy of ginger extract that suppressed eosinophilia in a mouse model of inflammation was attributed to [6]-gingerol, a major constituent of ginger.

Dr. Ahui ML, the lead scientist, after taking other factors into account wrote in the final report, "This is the first evidence that ginger can suppress Th2-mediated immune responses and might thus provide a possible therapeutic application in allergic asthma".

Take all together, ginger processed bioactive compound 6-gingerol may be considered a functional alternative for the treatment of asthma and asthmatic attacks, pending to the confirmation of large 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 ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Zingiber officinale ameliorates allergic asthma via suppression of Th2-mediated immune response by Khan AM1, Shahzad M, Raza Asim MB, Imran M, Shabbir A. (PubMed)
(2) Ginger prevents Th2-mediated immune responses in a mouse model of airway inflammation by Ahui ML1, Champy P, Ramadan A, Pham Van L, Araujo L, Brou André K, Diem S, Damotte D, Kati-Coulibaly S, Offoumou MA, Dy M, Thieblemont N, Herbelin A. (PubMed)
(3) Diet and Asthma: Is It Time to Adapt Our Message? by Laurent Guilleminault,1 Evan J. Williams,1 Hayley A. Scott,1 Bronwyn S. Berthon,1Megan Jensen,2 and Lisa G. Wood. (PMC)