What is ginger oil?
Warm, spicy and energizing, ginger oil comes from ginger root (Zingiber officinale), a pungent, peculiar-looking underground rhizome.
Ginger is one of the most flexible food ingredients today. It can be eaten fresh or dried, steeped as a tea or grated into your vegetable juice (one of my personal favorites). The dried root is used as a source for tinctures and supplements, and is also transformed into ginger oil,8 an energizing and uplifting oil with a wide range of uses.
Ginger oil has a thin consistency and is light yellow in color, with a pleasant, less pungent aroma, as compared to ginger root.9 The scent varies according to the distillation and quality of the ginger used.
Uses of ginger oil
The benefits of ginger for relieving pain are widely known today, and while I prefer using fresh ginger (eaten raw, grated into your vegetable juice or steeped into tea), using ginger oil can provide these wholesome benefits as well. When used topically, ginger oil can help relieve aches and pain, as well as promote normal blood circulation. Aromatherapists also value ginger oil's soothing and warming qualities to help address digestive problems. In fact, one of ginger oil's most popular uses is relieving any kind of digestive upset, such as nausea, indigestion, diarrhea, gas and even morning sickness.
Benefits of ginger oil
Ginger oil's many benefits are attributed to its anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic, expectorant, antiseptic, carminative, analgesic and stimulating properties.14 It's helpful in alleviating various health problems, such as:
Stomach and bowel related problems
Ginger helps promote proper digestion and can be a great remedy for spasms, dyspepsia, indigestion and flatulence. It can also increase your appetite, which is great for people who are trying to gain weight.
Food poisoning
Ginger oil's antiseptic and carminative properties can help treat food poisoning, as well as intestinal infections and bacterial dysentery.
Malaria and yellow fever
A study found that ginger oil can help repel Anopheles culicifacies mosquitoes, which is the primary carrier of malaria in India.
Respiratory problems
Ginger oil can help relieve and treat coughs, flu and bronchitis. Fresh ginger can actually remove mucus from throat and lungs, and is commonly added to tea for its soothing effects.
Pain
Ginger and ginger oil can help reduce prostaglandins, which are the compounds associated with pain. For more information about how ginger relieves pain (particularly after-exercise pain), check out my article
Heart ailments
Using ginger oil regularly can help reduce your risk of blood clots and arteriosclerosis, as well as help decrease the bad cholesterol levels in your blood. Adults who consume ginger daily may lower their risk of coronary heart disease, with the probability of illness decreasing when daily ginger intake increased.
Hypertension
Adults who consume ginger daily have an 8 percent lower risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure). A 2005 study found ginger may lower blood pressure through blockade of voltage-dependent calcium channels.
Chronic disease
Research published in the journal Nutrition suggests daily intake of 2 to 4 grams of ginger daily may help prevent chronic diseases.
