If you're treating a cold, cough, or influenza, using fresh ginger juice is the only way to go. Unfortunately, unless we've figured out how to grow fresh ginger (I haven't, yet) in the exciting times ahead we may not have access to fresh ginger. So the next best thing to have on hand will be a ginger tincture.
EFFECTIVE AGAINST
- Gram-positive bacteria
- Gram-negative bacteria
- Campylobacter jejuni[5]
- Escherichia coli[6]
- Haemophilus influenzae[7]
- Helicobacter pylori[8]
- Klebsiella pneumoniae[9]
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa[10]
- Salmonella typhimurium[11]
- Shigella dysenteriae[12]
- Shigella flexneri[13]
- Fungi
- Parasites
- Toxoplasma gondii[16]
- Viruses
- Chickenpox
- Cytomegalovirus
- Hepatitis C[17]
- Influenza A
- Rhinovirus (colds)
PREPARATIONS
Tincture. Begin with a nice hunk of ginger that you
picked up in the produce section of the grocery store on your last trip.
Regular, garden variety, fresh ginger. (Do not substitute dry or powdered
ginger. It is nowhere near as effective.) Finely chop it up and put
it in a canning jar, filling ¾ of the jar. Top off the jar with 95%
alcohol. Shake it once or twice each day for at least 2 weeks, but
preferably 6 weeks. You could even go 6 months. Ginger is easy like
that. Strain out the ginger and put the tincture in a clean jar.
Store in a dark place. The dosage is
10-20 drops, up to 4 times per day. For greatest effect, begin using at
the first sign of illness.
MODERN USAGE
- Cardiovascular
- Poor circulation
- Hypertension (powder or fresh)[18]
- Gastrointestinal
- Abdominal cramps, especially when associated with diarrhea[19]
- Cholera
- Diarrhea[20]
- Dysentery
- E. coli
- Morning sickness (infusion, powder, or fresh)[21] [22]
- Motion sickness (powder or fresh)[23]
- Nausea (fresh)
- Musculoskeletal
- Arthritis (powder, essential oil)[24]
- Inflammation (infusion)[25]
- Muscle aches (infusion, drink warm and sweetened with honey)[26]
- Neurological
- Anxiety
- Migraine
- Respiratory
- Asthma
- For mild to moderate asthma, ginger and garlic tea (4 cloves minced garlic in 1 cup of hot ginger tea. Let cool and drink 2 times per day.)[27]
- Cold
- Cough
- Fever (infusion, powder, or fresh)[28]
- Hay fever
- Essential oil, 2 drops applied to each temple, 2-4 times per day[29]
- Essential oil, steam inhalation, 1 drop of oil in a bowl of steaming water, cover the head and bowl with a towel, and inhale deeply for 15 minutes.[30]
- Sore throat (infusion, warm and sweetened with honey)[31]
HISTORICAL USAGE
SYNERGISMS
Like many other herbs, ginger potentiates some conventional pharmaceuticals:
- Aminoglycoside antibiotics such as streptomycin, gentamicin, and tobramycin[36]
- Bacitracin and polymyxin B[37]
- Tetracycline against Staphylococcus[38]
- Clarithromycin against Helicobacter pylori[39]
- Note: Vinegar or glycerin may also be used to make this tincture, but they only have a six month shelf life. And they are not as effective at extracting the active constituents.
Caution. Large doses of fresh preparations should be avoided in pregnancy, but moderate doses of the dried root may help mitigate morning sickness.[40] Ginger may aggravate gallstones.[41]
[1] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[2] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[3] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[4] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[5] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[6] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 232.
[7] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[8] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[9] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[10] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[11] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 232.
[12] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 232.
[13] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 232.
[14] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[15] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[16] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[17] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 172.
[18] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 82.
[19] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 162.
[20] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 162.
[21] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[22] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 82, 452.
[23] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 82.
[24] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[25] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 461.
[26] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 150.
[27] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 244.
[28] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 82.
[29] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 239.
[30] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 239.
[31] Joseph Alton, Survival Medicine Handbook, 2013, 150.
[32] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[33] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[34] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[35] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 234.
[36] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 235.
[37] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 235.
[38] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 235.
[39] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 235.
[40] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antivirals, 2013, 170.
[41] Stephen Harrod Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, 2012, 229.
Do you think ginger juice in a jar (think Ginger People Juice) would be an ok sub for fresh ginger-?
ReplyDeleteI really do not know. My first guess is that the Ginger People juice would not be as effective, because I would think that the method used for preserving the juice to make it shelf-stable would denature the active constituents of fresh ginger to some degree. But, there have been so many advances in food preservation that perhaps the active constituents would be preserved as well. Or maybe some active constituents remain intact while others are denatured. Really good question, but I have no way to answer it definitively. Oh, and I did try to go to their website but my computer came up with some warning that said their site posed a security risk or something like that.
ReplyDeleteWhat about freeze dried ginger? Would that preserve it long term?
ReplyDeleteExile1981
I suspect that freeze-dried ginger would work. I'm operating under that assumption--I've got a little FD ginger and I'm planning to FD some more this spring.
Delete