Ginger raises testosterone levels in human studies We recently wrote about one of the many animal studies that has been shown that ginger supplements boosts testosterone levels. However, no human studies were conducted on the hormonal effects of ginger on testosterone, we think. From the University of Tikrit in Iraq, published in the Tikrit Medical Journal.
The researchers describe an experiment they did with 75 married men with fertility problems, aged between 19 and 40 years. Through a clinic in Tikrit the men were placed in a ginger course. The researchers do not say how much ginger the men received or how they were given it.
Now are they very clear about the duration of treatment, although the article mentions "three months of treatment". We assume this is the case. The researchers used a control group of 25 healthy men, but did not report the data they collected from this group in the article. The figure below is related, therefore, to the 75 infertile men.
There was not a group that was given a placebo. Supplementation raised men's testosterone level by 17.7%. This may have something to do with the effect of ginger on the LH level. This last increase to the whopping figure of 43.2%.
The concentration of toxic malondialdehyde in men's blood decreases and the concentration of protective glutathione is raised.
Malondialdehyde is a marker of free radical activity. This confirms the theory that ginger works mostly, probably by activating endogenous antioxidants, by destroying harmful molecules in the testicles.
Quantity and quality of sperm increased.
The study does not reveal if men also became parents. "The present study recommends the use of ginger by the Iraqi community as a food additive," the researchers conclude.
Two grams of ginger reduces muscle pain in a room.
You have not been training for a while, but you want to start pumping iron again. Or if you want to experiment with a new training program, but you know that it will painfully hurt your muscles. Sport scientists at the University of Georgia have discovered that, in both cases, they are likely to benefit from taking ginger supplements.
They write about their findings in an article that will be published shortly in the Journal of Pain. Ayurvedic healers have been using ginger for centuries as an analgesic. But molecular research has confirmed that the analgesic effect of ginger is not just due to the placebo effect. Test tube studies have shown that ginger inhibits the inflammatory enzymes COX-1 and COX-2, and in immune cells ginger inhibits the production of inflammatory factors interleukin-1 and 12, leukotrienes and TNF-alpha. Somewhere along the way - or maybe through different mechanisms - ginger inhibits the TRPV1 pain receptor.
One gram of prepared ginger contains approximately 3 mg 6-gingerol, 1 mg 8-gingerol, 1.5 mg 10-gingerol and 2.5 mg 6-shogaol. These compounds are probably the active ingredients of ginger. Extracts contain these substances in higher concentrations. When it comes to analgesics, it's the shogaoles that are most interesting. These are formed by heating gingerols. On day 8, the researchers managed to get the test subjects - they did not have to do strength sports - to train their biceps.
In the days that followed the researchers measured the muscle pain of the subjects. The researchers conducted two experiments. In one they gave about thirty test subjects supplements containing raw ginger. In the other experiment the supplements are used in which the ginger had been prepared first for 3 hours. Test subjects took 2 g of ginger per day, or a placebo, for 11 days. This is the kind of dosage that some studies have shown is enough to prevent people with motion sickness from vomiting.
The researchers could not determine exactly how ginger works. They realized, for example, that the blood of the ginger takers contained less PGE2 - an inflammatory factor that is made by the enzyme COX-2 - but the reduction was too small to be able to explain the analgesic effect.
Ginger doubles testosterone levels in rats
Ginger extract has recently gained extra points as a testosterone-boost supplement. Pharmacologists in Egypt, who were looking for a cheap natural medicine for the treatment of patients with impotent or sterile diabetes, have discovered that ginger extracts can almost completely disappear the effects of diabetes on the testes. What's more, they also seem to be safe in high doses.
Diabetes wreaks havoc on the testicles. A decrease in insulin sensitivity sends your testosterone production rises and healthy sperm production plummets. Due to Africa [Asian J Androl.2002 Dec; 4 (4) :. 299-301] and studies in Iranian animals have shown that ginger has a positive effect on testicular function, the researchers decided to test homemade extracts of ginger root in rats in which diabetes had been artificially induced. The Egyptian study is interesting because of its long duration.
The study of Africa we mentioned earlier lasted only 9 days and the Iranian one of 20, but the Egyptians gave extracts of their laboratory animals for a period of 65 days. The methanol extracts in particular, were effective in restoring sperm production and testosterone level, as shown in the following table. The researchers believe that the risk of side effects is small. The LD50 was calculated for the mice. That is the acute dose level at which half of the animals died. For the water-based extracts, the figure was 11.75 g, and for methanol it is 10.25 g / kg of body weight. That is high. At a dose of 5 g / kg of body weight no mice died and the researchers detected toxic effects.
Now men are not rats. researchers refer to the manual summarized herbal psychoactive by Marcello spinella, in which States that the ginger becomes toxic to humans somewhere between 170 250 G.
Researchers quoted posts Journal not read in the West. one of them is the African Journal of biomedical research. in 2008 researchers Nigerians published the results of an animal study in this Journal, which are given the male rats healthy 0,5 or 1g / kg body weight of tea ginger. [African Journal of biomedical research, Vol. 11 (2008); 329 - 334.]
Tea ginger made testicles of animals to be heavier. Moreover, the higher dose doubled testosterone levels - after four
Ginger increases testosterone levels in diabetic rats
We have already written several times about the fact that ginger increases the concentration of testosterone in the blood. It is still strange that a basic ingredient of cooking has this effect. That's why an animal study in Tunisia aroused our interest: researchers were able to normalize the testosterone level of diabetic rats that use powdered ginger.
Researchers at the University of Sfax will be published shortly in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition of the results of a study in which male rats suffering from diabetes were given in ginger powder for a month. The researchers made the ginger powder themselves. Peel the roots, cut them into pieces, freeze them dry and grind the pieces into a powder. Then they added 3 g of ginger powder and 100 g of food. A control group of diabetic rats were given no ginger; Another control group did not have diabetes - and they were given no ginger either.
If you convert the dose to the human proportions you would need 20-30 g of ginger powder daily for an adult. Hurray for concentrated supplements. The values in the y-axis in the following figure are expressed in nanograms per milliliter. At the end of the months the researchers observed that the diabetic rats had a lower concentration of FSH, LH and testosterone than the healthy rats. The FSH, LH and testosterone concentrations of the diabetic rats that had been given ginger were between those of diabetes and healthy rats.
Diabetes increased the concentration of toxic malondialdehyde in the sexual organs of rats and lowers the concentration of protective and detoxifying enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase [GPx]. Ginger supplementation partially reversed these effects.
Enzyme levels such as AST, ALT, ALP and LDH were higher in the testis cells of diabetic rats. This is an indicator of cell damage. Ginger supplementation limits the increase in these concentrations.
"Although the results of animal experiments are limited and can not be applied to humans, dietary supplementation with ginger roots could be an easy, cheap and promising agent for protection against male reproductive dysfunctions in diabetics," the Tunisians conclude.
Animal studies: ginger has a similar effect to Clomid
The researchers studied the effects of ginger in male rats in the hope that they had found a cheap and safe substance that increases male fertility. According to studies, some antioxidants have this effect. Since ginger also contains antioxidants such as Zingerone, gingerdiol, zingibrene, gingerols and shogaols, and because an animal study conducted seven years ago [Asian J Androl. 2002 Dec; 4 (4) :. 299-301] shows that ginger raises the level of testosterone, the researchers decided to pay a visit to the nearby herbal shopping center Tabriz Swine, where they bought the ginger they gave to their laboratory rats. Are you looking for a supplement that will help you recover more quickly from your last course of steroids? Maybe steroids are not your thing, but are you looking for a supplement that will increase your testosterone level? It's in the supermarket and I've spent hundreds of times. According to a study conducted at the University of Tabriz in Iran, ginger increases the production of sperm and testosterone cells in the testes.
The animals were given ginger orally for twenty days. A control group was given water, the experimental G1 group obtained 50 mg of ginger per kg of body weight each day, and the G2 group was given twice as much. The following table shows the effect of powdered ginger on the concentration of testosterone and on the production of the hormone LH.
In addition, the number of sperm cells was increased, and they became more mobile and viable.
The researchers measured the concentration of malondialdehyde in the blood of the rats. When free radicals damage polyunsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes, malondialdehyde is produced. And malondialdehyde is not a substance that you want to have in your body because it damages your genetic material. Researchers measure malondialdehyde as a marker of the activity of free radicals in the body. The ginger-drinking rats had lower concentrations of malondialdehyde, which the researchers consider as support for their idea that ginger compounds reduce damage from free radicals to the testicles, and thus help increase the production of testosterone and sperm.
Researchers refrain from speculation about the effect of ginger supplements on humans.
Another interesting study with a supplementation that contains, magnesium chia, linseed, lemon, camu camu, cat's claw, bentonite clay, turmeric, bow stick, chanca stone, stevia, zeolite clay, slippery elm, garlic, bioflavonoid ginger, mint, aloe, citrus, and fulvic acid.
Ginger as Testosterone Booster
Ginger root powder was reported to possess antioxidant and androgenic activity at doses of 50 mg / kg and 100 mg / kg daily. Ginger administration significantly increased serum testosterone levels to 100 mg / kg. There was also an increase in testosterone at 50 mg / kg per day, but it did not reach statistical significance. A study conducted by Kamtchouing et al. also reported significantly increased serum and testicular testosterone levels, as well as weight gain testicular and testicular cholesterol in healthy rats. Another study using doses of 500 mg / kg and 1000 mg / kg indicated that the extract of Zingiber officinale possesses pro-fertility properties. Compared with the controls there was no unadosis and duration dependent increases in serum testosterone levels and seminal quality. At a very high dose (2000 mg / kg for 35 days), ginger led to slightly reduced testicle weights that could be due to the negative feedback reaction of the androgenic activity.
Ginger also prevents damage to the reproductive organs induced by aluminum chloride, as well as cisplatin-induced testicular damage. Morakinyo et al. khaki et al. And Shalaby et al. Concluded that ginger may be promising in improving the parameters of healthy sperm.
Human study
A preliminary study conducted by researchers at the University of Tikrit showed a statistically significant increase in serum hormones (p <0.01) in infertile men. After 30 weeks of serum testosterone treatment has increased by 17.7%, serum luteinizing hormone by 43.2% and serum of the follicle stimulating hormone by 17.6%; The dose of ginger used was not disclosed.
Ginger for Digestive
Aid Ginger Oral is reported to accelerate gastric emptying and stimulate gastric motility (spontaneous movements of the stomach that aid in digestion). Most studies report some beneficial effect on gastric emptying time, but especially during a kind of disease state. In healthy individuals ginger also seems to increase gastric emptying through stimulation of the contraction of the antrum. However, Phillips and colleagues reported that ginger is not associated with an effect on gastric emptying. In animals, ginger and its active constituent was reported -gingerol to improve gastrointestinal transit pathways.
Other benefits of ginger ingestion according to studies by srivastava and Thomson and colleagues.
Ginger can be used as agent antithrombotic natural. ginger has also been registered as a remedy useful in the prevention of nausea postoperative and vomiting in humans and prevention of nausea morning during pregnancy. treatment with aqueous extract of ginger high-dose (500 mg / kg body) reduces cholesterol and may have some effect antithrombotic.
Joint health ginger is also often in supplements support sets.
there is little research well designed, However, it seems that the ginger may have any effect relieving the joint pain in patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, probably due to its anti-inflammatory activity and antioxidant.
Is there a side effect? ginger is considered an herbal medicine safe with few and insignificant side effects. some adverse effects minor, such as mild diarrhea have been Associated with the use of ginger in humans. ginger you can also cause heartburn and dose much greater Act as a irritant the gastric. A study conducted in male rats diabetic concluded that extracts ginger (zingiber officinale) have high safety and intake estate and drinks can be useful for diabetic patients suffering of sexual impotence.
Management for 16 days of 1 grams of powder ginger root does not appear to have side effects.
