Ginger Supports Blood Sugar Balance

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) helps balance blood sugar metabolism in animals, a recently published study indicates.

Rats with experimentally induced suboptimal blood sugar metabolism were administered either 100 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg body weight of ginger or nothing for 30 days. Scientists evaluated the rats for blood glucose levels, kidney and liver weight, and glycogen content (the storage form of sugar) of the liver, skeletal muscle and kidney. The researchers also assessed the rats for activity of enzymes involved in the use of glucose for energy including glucokinase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase.

Increasing dosages of ginger resulted in enhanced blood sugar metabolism, with a 38 percent improvement in blood glucose balance after 15 days and a 68 percent improvement after 30 days at a dose of 500 mg/kg daily.

The rats with suboptimal blood sugar metabolism showed an increase in kidney glycogen content and a decrease in skeletal muscle and liver glycogen content. The rats that received the 500 mg/kg dose of ginger showed a decrease in kidney weight and kidney glycogen and increased liver and skeletal muscle glycogen content. In addition, enzyme activity increased in the rats that received ginger compared to the control group.

The study authors concluded that ginger may be helpful for management of suboptimal blood sugar metabolism through its effects on the activities of enzymes in glucose utilization.

Reference:

Abdulrazaq NB, Cho MM, Win NN, Zaman R, Rahman MT. Beneficial effects of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on carbohydrate metabolism in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Br J Nutr. 2011 Dec 12. Published Online Ahead of Print.