One of the main ingredients is Indian food is Ginger root. Fresh ginger root is a part of many Indian dishes, so I am very familiar with it. I also like to make ginger tea which is great for digestion. Recently I read about a new study published in The Journal of Pain , by researchers at University of Georgia which showed that that daily ginger consumption eases muscle pain by 25 Percent. In particular muscle pain that is caused by exercise.
While ginger had been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, its effect on experimentally-induced human muscle pain was largely unexplored, stated Patrick O'Connor, a professor in the College of Education's department of kinesiology. Dr. O'Connor wanted to see if heating ginger had an effect on its pain-relieving effects. He looked at how these two forms of ginger had an effect on muscle pain in this study.
O'Connor along with other collaborators directed two studies examining the effects supplementing with two types of ginger on muscle pain: 11 days of 1) raw ginger and 2) heat-treated ginger.
Participants in the studies, 34 and 40 volunteers, respectively, consumed capsules containing two grams of either raw or heat-treated ginger or a placebo for 11 consecutive days.
On the eighth day they performed 18 extensions of the elbow flexors with a heavy weight to induce moderate muscle injury to the arm. Arm function, inflammation, pain and a biochemical involved in pain were assessed prior to and for three days after exercise.
The studies showed that daily ginger supplementation reduced the exercise-induced pain by 25 percent, and the effect was not enhanced by heat-treating the ginger.
"The economic and personal costs of pain are extremely high," said O'Connor.
"Muscle pain generally is one of the most common types of pain and eccentric exercise-induced muscle pain specifically is a common type of injury related to sports and/or recreation (e.g., gardening). Anything that can truly relieve this type of pain will be greatly welcomed by the many people who are experiencing it."
Source: Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email BookmarkDaily Ginger Consumption Eases Muscle Pain by 25 Percent, Study Suggests
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