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Daily
ginger consumption eases muscle ache
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Ginger has long been used as a home remedy for
ailments like colds and upset stomachs. But research has now found that daily
ginger consumption also reduces muscle pain caused by exercise.
While ginger had been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, its
effect on experimentally-induced human muscle pain was largely unexplored, said
Patrick O'Connor, University of Georgia professor in kinesiology.
It was also believed that heating ginger, as occurs with cooking, might increase
its pain-relieving effects.
O'Connor directed two studies examining the effects of 11 days of raw and
heat-treated ginger supplementation on muscle pain.
Collaborators included Chris Black, University of Georgia assistant professor of
kinesiology, its doctoral student Matt Herring, and David Hurley, its associate
professor of population health.
Participants in the studies, 34 and 40 volunteers respectively, consumed
capsules containing two grams of either raw or heat-treated ginger or a placebo
for 11 consecutive days.
On the eighth day they performed 18 extensions of the elbow flexors with a heavy
weight to induce moderate muscle injury to the arm.
Arm function, inflammation, pain and a biochemical involved in pain were
assessed prior to and for three days after exercise.
The studies showed that daily ginger supplementation reduced the
exercise-induced pain by 25 percent, and the effect was not enhanced by
heat-treating the ginger.
"The economic and personal costs of pain are extremely high," said O'Connor,
according to a University of Georgia release.
"Muscle pain generally is one of the most common types of pain...Anything that
can truly relieve this type of pain will be greatly welcomed by the many people
who are experiencing it," O'Connor said.
The study is slated for publication in the September issue of
The Journal of Pain and is currently
available online at www.jpain.org/home
.
- IANS / Times of India
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