Research and Development, Father Muller Medical College, Father Muller Hospital Road, Kankanady, Mangalore, 575002, Karnataka, India.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2011 Jul;51(6):499-523. doi: 10.1080/10408391003698669.
The rhizomes of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae), commonly known as ginger, is one of the most widely used spice and condiment. It is also an integral part of many traditional medicines and has been extensively used in Chinese, Ayurvedic, Tibb-Unani, Srilankan, Arabic, and African traditional medicines, since antiquity, for many unrelated human ailments including common colds, fever, sore throats, vomiting, motion sickness, gastrointestinal complications, indigestion, constipation, arthritis, rheumatism, sprains, muscular aches, pains, cramps, hypertension, dementia, fever, infectious diseases, and helminthiasis. The putative active compounds are nonvolatile pungent principles, namely gingerols, shogaols, paradols, and zingerone. These compounds are some of the extensively studied phytochemicals and account for the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiemetic, and gastroprotective activities. A number of preclinical investigations with a wide variety of assay systems and carcinogens have shown that ginger and its compounds possess chemopreventive and antineoplastic effects. A number of mechanisms have been observed to be involved in the chemopreventive effects of ginger. The cancer preventive activities of ginger are supposed to be mainly due to free radical scavenging, antioxidant pathways, alteration of gene expressions, and induction of apoptosis, all of which contribute towards decrease in tumor initiation, promotion, and progression. This review provides concise information from preclinical studies with both cell culture models and relevant animal studies by focusing on the mechanisms responsible for the chemopreventive action. The conclusion describes directions for future research to establish its activity and utility as a human cancer preventive and therapeutic drug. The above-mentioned mechanisms of ginger seem to be promising for cancer prevention; however, further clinical studies are warranted to assess the efficacy and safety of ginger.
姜科植物姜（Zingiber officinale Roscoe）的根茎，通常称为生姜，是最广泛使用的香料和调味品之一。自古以来，它也是许多传统药物的重要组成部分，并在中药、印度草医学、顺势疗法、斯里兰卡、阿拉伯和非洲传统医学中被广泛用于治疗许多与人类无关的疾病，包括普通感冒、发烧、喉咙痛、呕吐、晕车、胃肠道并发症、消化不良、便秘、关节炎、风湿病、扭伤、肌肉疼痛、疼痛、痉挛、高血压、痴呆、发烧、传染病和寄生虫病。推测的活性化合物是非挥发性辛辣成分，即姜酚、姜烯酚、芳姜酮和姜酮。这些化合物是一些广泛研究的植物化学物质，具有抗氧化、抗炎、止吐和胃保护作用。大量的临床前研究使用了各种检测系统和致癌物质，表明生姜及其化合物具有化学预防和抗肿瘤作用。已经观察到许多机制参与了生姜的化学预防作用。生姜的抗癌活性主要归因于自由基清除、抗氧化途径、基因表达的改变和细胞凋亡的诱导，所有这些都有助于减少肿瘤的起始、促进和进展。本综述提供了来自细胞培养模型和相关动物研究的临床前研究的简要信息，重点介绍了负责化学预防作用的机制。结论描述了未来研究的方向，以确定其作为人类癌症预防和治疗药物的活性和效用。生姜的上述机制似乎很有希望用于癌症预防；然而，需要进一步的临床研究来评估生姜的疗效和安全性。
