Is ginger as healthy for us to eat as turmeric?
Biologists place both ginger and turmeric under Order Zingiberales, Family Zingiberaceae. These 2 plants manufacture very similar phytochemicals. The scientific studies involving turmeric (Curcuma longa) outnumber the scientific studies involving ginger (Zingiber officinale) by better than tenfold. The purported medicinal uses of turmeric greatly outnumber the purported medicinal uses of ginger. The supermarkets only sell ginger because ginger roots are somewhat more delicious and somewhat more attractive than turmeric roots. Ginger works much better than turmeric for reducing the severity of flatulence. Try this test: Eat a certain large quantity of legumes such as whole soybeans, whole green peas, whole chickpeas (garbanzo beans), whole black beans, whole navy beans, whole kidney beans, whole pinto beans, whole lima beans, whole great northern beans, whole lentils, or any other whole starchy legume. Measure the amount of flatulence caused when ginger was not consumed together with the beans. Then retry the same experiment with plenty of ginger, say, at least 10 capsules. The severity of flatulence should be substantially less when lots of ginger was added to the beans. Turmeric works slightly better than ginger for (1)preventing and treating metabolic syndrome (causing weight loss, preventing and treating Diabetes and insulin resistance, improving cholesterol and triglyceride numbers, lowering high blood pressure, and reducing markers of inflammation),(2)protecting the inner lining of the entire human digestive tract from free radicals, and (3)partly blocking the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines in the human mouth, throat, esophagus, and stomach. Turmeric has been shown to be effective at partly blocking nitrosation - the formation of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) such as nitrosamines. Turmeric capsules are easier to chew in our mouth than ginger capsules. In fact, many brands of turmeric capsules are moderately delicious. All turmeric products come from India. This product, Nature's Way Ginger Root, is of such high quality that if chewed in our mouth, the sting from the beneficial phytochemicals in the ginger may be too potent for most people to tolerate and may cause most of us to cough. It's perfectly OK to swallow both ginger capsules and turmeric capsules at the same time. In humans, turmeric is absorbed very poorly so it's unlikely that turmeric can protect where our blood goes. Experiments with animals, however, show turmeric being absorbed very well and delivering spectacular health benefits. DISADVANTAGE OF GINGER: Ginger is always higher in the cancer-causing mycotoxin, ochratoxin A, than any other plant. Strangely enough, eating Equal (aspartame) at the same time as eating ginger will almost completely block the cancer-causing effect of ochratoxin A in ginger and coffee. People trying to lose weight and people trying to reduce flatulence should add 2 packets of Equal (aspartame) to their "ginger tea," which can be made by pouring boiling hot water over 2 capsules of ginger to make 1 pint (2 cups) of ginger tea. Splenda (sucralose) is completely harmless but will not block ochratoxin A. Equal (aspartame) will block ochratoxin A extremely well but will not block any other mycotoxin. Other mycotoxins that have greatly harmed humans include: aflatoxins, fumonisins, other ochratoxins, zearalenone, patulin, citrinin, viomellein, sterigmatocystin, A. fumigatus gliotoxin, cyclochlorotine, luteoskyrin and rugulosin, P. jirovecii, C. immitis and C. posadasii, B. dermatitidis, C. gattii VGIIc, phomopsins, tremorgens (penitrems and roquefortines), ergot alkaloids (clavines, ergopeptines, and lysergic acid amides), type A trichothecenes (T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, Stachybotrys satratoxins, and diacetoxyscirpenol), and type B trichothecenes (nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol). Many other mycotoxins, including slaframine, moniliformin, ipomeanol, sporidesmin [facial eczema], and Neotyphodium fungal endosymbiont toxins, will only afflict plant-eating farm animals
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