One of the best things about the world is that we’re always finding out more about it. You might consider now to be the most knowledgeable we’ve ever been but that might not be as true as you think. Our ancestors were much more clued up on using the world’s natural bounty. They understood the uses of certain plants and compounds better than we do and things we’ve long marked as mystical and ridiculous are becoming accepted as medical. Lots of herbs and spices, for example are having their medicinal properties explored for the first time and great leaps and bounds are being made all the time.
Ginger is a fantastic thing to cook with. It’s interesting as it’s actually the root of a plant, not a full plant itself. Certain ancient civilisations used ginger as a medicinal aid hundreds and hundreds of years ago. It’s well known to settle a bad stomach and ease indigestion and I’ll often have a glass of ginger beer to ease indigestion. It’s also a potent anti-inflammatory and is being used more and more commonly to help in the treatment of arthritis and the common cold. What wasn’t known until and Australian research team finished their study recently, was that ginger might have great potential in the treatment of type two diabetes.
These scientists have found a key component of ginger which is known as gingerol. This works as a type of herbal insulin, increasing the uptake of glucose by the cells in the body just like the hormone does. Potentially it could be used to lower insulin resistance in type two diabetics, making their disease much easier to manage and lessening the chances of any negative complications. This also hold some future potential for type one diabetics as an alternative or at least a supporter of the insulin injects they need to administer every day.
Exciting times ahead and from such a well-known spice!
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