bubble_chart Source

This product is the rhizome of the perennial herbaceous plant ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) of the Zingiberaceae family. It is produced in various regions. It is harvested in the autumn and winter seasons, with the fibrous roots removed, and used fresh in slices.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Acrid, warm. Act on lung, spleen and stomach meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Inducing sweating to releasing exterior, warming middle and arresting vomiting, warming the lung to stop cough.

bubble_chart Indications

1. Used for wind-cold common cold. This product can induce sweating to release the exterior, dispel wind and dissipate cold, but its effect is relatively weak, so it is suitable for mild cases of wind-cold common cold. It can be decocted alone with brown sugar, or combined with Fistular Onion Stalk for decoction, or added to other releasing exterior with pungent-warm formulas as an auxiliary medicine to enhance the effect of inducing sweating to release the exterior, such as in Cinnamon Twig Decoction and other formulas.
2. Used for stomach cold vomiting. This product warms the stomach and dissipates cold, harmonizes the middle and lowers adverse qi, and has excellent antiemetic effects, hence it is known as the "holy medicine for vomiting." For those with fear of cold vomiting, it is combined with Pinellia, namely Minor Pinellia Decoction; if there is stomach heat vomiting, it can be combined with Coptis Rhizome, Bamboo Shavings, etc. Some antiemetic medicines are processed with ginger juice to enhance their antiemetic effects, such as ginger Pinellia, ginger Bamboo Shavings, etc.
3. Used for wind-cold cough. Its pungent and warm properties can disperse, warm the lungs, dissipate cold, resolve phlegm, and stop vomiting, so it can be used to treat wind-cold invading the lungs, with symptoms of excessive phlegm, cough, aversion to cold, and headache. It is often combined with Bitter Apricot Seed, Perilla Leaf, Dried Tangerine Peel, Pinellia, etc., such as in the formula Two Old Ingredients Decoction.
4. In addition, Fresh Ginger Rhizome can detoxify Pinellia, Arisaema, and the toxins of fish and crabs.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Bielu: "The main symptoms are cold-damage disease, headache, nasal congestion, cough with dyspnea, and stopping vomiting."
2. "Materia Medica Supplement": "The juice removes toxins, breaks blood stasis, regulates the middle, dispels cold and old phlegm, and opens the stomach."
3. "Bencao Gangmu": "Used raw, it disperses; used cooked, it harmonizes the middle."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

Decoct and take 3-10g, or crush to extract juice for consumption.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

This product damages yin and promotes fire, so it is contraindicated for those with yin deficiency and internal heat.

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

This product contains volatile oil, the main components of which are gingerol, zingiberene, phellandrene, citral, aromatic alcohol, methyl heptenone, nonanal, α-borneol, etc. It also contains the spicy component gingerol.

• Fresh Ginger Rhizome can promote the secretion of digestive juices and enhance appetite;
• it has antiemetic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-swelling effects;
• the alcohol extract can stimulate the vasomotor center, respiratory center, and heart;
• chewing Fresh Ginger Rhizome can increase blood pressure in normal individuals;
• it has varying degrees of inhibitory and killing effects on cold-damage disease bacilli, cholera vibrio, Trichophyton violaceum, and vaginal trichomonads.

bubble_chart Supplementary Medicinals

Ginger peel: The outer skin cut from the rhizome of Fresh Ginger Rhizome. It has a pungent and cool nature. Its functions include harmonizing the spleen, promoting water circulation, and reducing swelling. It is mainly used for edema and difficulty in urination. It is decocted and taken orally, 3-10g.

Ginger juice: Made by pounding Fresh Ginger Rhizome to extract the juice for medicinal use. Its effects are similar to Fresh Ginger Rhizome but it is more inclined to resolve phlegm and stop vomiting, making it convenient for emergency clinical use. For example, in cases of throat numbness, tongue swelling and pain due to poisoning by Nanxing or Pinellia, or persistent vomiting and difficulty in eating, the juice can be taken infused, making it easier to swallow; it can also be combined with Bamboo Juice, administered orally or via nasal feeding, to treat apoplexy with phlegm-heat and unconsciousness. The dosage is 3-10 drops, taken infused.