Ginger is one of the more commonly used herbal supplements. Although often
consumed for culinary purposes, it is taken by many patients to treat a variety of
conditions. Currently, there is a renewed interest in ginger, and several scientific
investigations aimed at isolation and identification of active constituents, and
verification of the basis of the use of ginger in some of several diseases and
conditions. The present work aimed to evaluate the beneficial effects of ginger as
hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, anti-obesity, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
The study included 4 groups of rats: control group (group I), high fat diet–induced
obesity rats (group II), alloxan-induced diabetic rats (group III) and carrageenin–
induced inflammation in rats (group IV). The ginger was administered orally in a
dose of about 500 mg/Kg body weight for 8 weeks. Serum was analyzed for contents
of blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, HLD-cholesterol, nitric
oxide, lipid peroxide, prostaglandin E2 and C-reactive protein. Results: The high fat
diet-induced obesity rats group treated with ginger showed significant reduction in
body weight (p<0.0001). Both high fat diet –induced obesity rats group and alloxan-induced diabetic rats group treated with ginger showed significant reduction in serum
levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol and significant
increase in serum level of HDL-cholesterol (p<0.0001 for each). In addition, there
was significant reduction in the serum levels of nitric oxide and lipid peroxide
(p<0.0001 for each). Finally carrageenin-induced inflammation in rats group treated
with ginger showed significant reduction in serum levels of prostaglandin E2 and C-reactive protein (p<0.0001 for each). In conclusion: The results indicate that ginger
has potential beneficial effects in conditions of obesity, diabetic dyslipidemia and
could be considered as supplementary herbal therapy for prevention or treatment of
obesity and diabetes. It protects tissues from lipid per-oxidations and inflammation
and might be a promising candidate in prevention and or therapy for inflammation.