Ginger: Common Spice and Wonder Drug

by Paul Schulick, Schulick

How could a spice adored worldwide for its lively flavor conceivably revolutionize medicine as we know it today? Inpired by Ginger's 5000-year history, Paul Schulick began a revealing investigation that ultimately linked the claims of the ancient herbals to the remarkable and extensive findings of international medical research. Supported by hundreds of scientific references, the reader is led to discover the extraordinary personal and social benefits of using Ginger.

Genres: Health

166 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 2012

Reviews

[Marisha Murphy]

Super informative guide on the many benefits of ginger, how to grow, harvest, and properly use this awesome tool nature provides!

[Eslam Qundeil]

pretty useful, easy scientific language

[Steve]

Aside from being a delicious flavoring agent ginger is a cheap, ubiquitous, and powerful “drug”.

Ginger has powerful antinflammatories. It is also completely safe for a person’s digestive tract. In fact, ginger is an old folk remedy for upset stomachs. Years ago I had several orthopedic problems and discovering the book pictured above kept me from using ibuprofen except for occasional very bad bouts of inflammation in my right knee. The antinflammatories in ginger aka “gingerols” are so effective pharmaceutical companies have investigated artificially extracting and concentrating gingerols for making new drugs.

Aside from being a safe antinflammatory, ginger is a mild stimulant that boosts circulation, ginger soothes the digestive tract, is great for colds and is therapeutic for a long list of conditions.

Did I mention that it is cheap and ubiquitous? :)

Best of all, the active ingredients in ginger survive cooking and processing. You don’t need to empty your wallet to buy super expensive organic ginger root and spend 20 minutes making an infusion. Taking a spoon full of powdered drug store spice rack ginger will work too. In fact, it will be more effective since it is dried and concentrated. Even ginger ale and ginger candy can be therapeutic if there is enough ginger used in the ingredients.

This book was written by an herbalist who extensively quotes scientific studies to show you in a readable,credible way what an overlooked treasure ginger is.

[Marjan]

This book does not hide its sympathy for Ginger, but nevertheless a slightly more objective approach wouldn't hurt. The second difficulty is on the one hand quite simple writing style, on the other author's use of complex pharmacological terminology which requires constant checking of the medical dictionaries to fully understand the text. But that is fine, because it offers double-checking of his claims and some great new knowledge. So if you are interested in health potentials of ginger, that would be the book for you. It would be amazing to add some recipes or procedures (how to brew correct tea, make ginger honey, etc), so that is again up to you...

[Rebecca Rose]

A little biased, but highly informative. The writing style is not too boring to read like some similar books, and there are several charts for visual learners. Overall, it is worth reading if you are interested in natural health solutions.

[John Rogers]

Is in my cook book shelf and a medical inspiration source.

[Mark McTague]

I understand the author's motivation - to sally forth against Big Pharma in defense of sanity, human health, and, by the way, Ginger. He is also battling entrenched attitudes that say the only good medicine is Pharma medicine, yet given that the endless parade of commercials touting the latest wonder drugs for all sorts of allegedly dire conditions end with the sotto voce voiceover reminding us that said miracle drug "can cause sterility, blindness and death, but ask your doctor if Muckity-muck is right for you," you'd think that Big Pharma was its own worst enemy (except for the fact that, cha-ching, cha-ching, it keeps raking it in). Into the breach steps Paul Schulick with the wonder drug of wonder drugs. And while I love ginger and use it a lot, and though I'm sure it does a whale of a lot of good for me, his one-note tune of "Ginger to the rescue" began to sound a bit flat midway through the book, which is where I stopped. I was ready to be part of the choir, but even a reflexive anti-Big Pharma-cist (pardon the pun) grew a bit tired of the tale, not because I doubt what he said, but in trying to strike the appropriate tone of scientific rigor, he overwhelms the poor reader with layers and layers of med-chem speak, and for what I presume is his intended audience (generalists who may wonder what ginger can do for them besides make tasty cookies), the tactic doesn't work. I simply grew tired. Still, I did read enough to know that I WILL keep eating ginger, and perhaps more than before, so he may have succeeded to some degree.