Ginger May Help Fight Obesity and Related Disorders

By Sondra Forsyth

If you are overweight or obese, youΓÇÖve probably already heard about metabolic syndrome, a set of symptoms that ups your risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. Paring off pounds can improve your health, and now a team of researchers in China has shown that adding ginger to your diet may help you.

A review of the paper, published in May 2017 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, notes that recent epidemiological and clinical studies have built a consensus that ginger has beneficial effects against obesity and related disorders.

The pungent spice with with the scientific name Zingiber officinale Roscoe has these effects by:

• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬áregulating fat metabolism
• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬ásuppressing carbohydrate digestion
• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬ámodulating insulin secretion and response
• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬áinhibiting oxidative stress
• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬álowering blood pressure
• ┬á ┬á ┬á ┬álowering cholesterol.

Studies have also identified the mechanisms and cellular molecules involved.