Effect of ginger on heart

The heart is one of the major organs in the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body and returns poor- oxygenated blood to the lungs. The heart can be affected by many diseases, such as coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, myocardial infarction and stroke. All these diseases are called cardiovascular diseases, because they affect the heart and the blood vessels. Any  type of disease that affects the heart needs to be taken seriously, since the outcome is not always good. One of the leading cause of death worldwide is cardiovascular disease. Most risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases can be modified to improve your cardiovascular health. Risk factors such as type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels can all be modified to prevent them from affecting your cardiovascular health. Many studies have shown that ginger can improve some  risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, diabetes, atherosclerosis. Knowing the effect of ginger on heart will make you begin adding this amazing spice to your diet if you have not been using it.

Many people use ginger as a spice to prepare many dishes. Ginger also serves as an active ingredient in most medicinal preparations. Some also use it to clean their liver. Ginger contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which makes it a good source for maintaining or  improving your cardiovascular health. Inflammatory and stress responses are linked to the development of cardiovascular diseases and ginger has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties to combat both inflammatory and stress responses. Adding ginger to your diet or consuming ginger tea once in a while will go a long way to improving your cardiovascular health.

1. Ginger has an antioxidant property which helps to prevent cardiovascular disease. When there is lack of or inadequate antioxidant defense, oxidative stress increases. When oxidative stress increases, it affects the production and elimination of an unstable molecule that easily reacts with molecules in cells and causes damage to cells and DNA.  Ginger has more antioxidant properties which decrease oxidative stress and increases antioxidant enzymes.

2. Ginger has an anti – obesity property. Obesity is the accumulation of fatty tissues excessively. Obesity is one of the major cause of diabetes and high blood pressure, which are also the major causes of cardiovascular disease. Ginger contains gingerenone – A, which inhibits the accumulation of fatty tissues and prevents or minimizes obesity.

3. Anti-inflammatory property. Ginger contains gingerol and shogaol, which have great anti-inflammatory properties. One of the body’s first responses to infection or  a bad situation is inflammation. When inflammation delays in the body for sometime, it becomes a threat to the body. Many diseases are as a result of delayed inflammation in the body, including some cardiovascular diseases. Add ginger to your diet to combat inflammation in order to gain this effect of ginger on heart.

4. Ginger reduces blood lipid profile. High blood lipid profile, especially when low density lipoprotein levels are high, can lead to the development of atherosclerosis, which is also one of the main cause of cardiovascular disease. Ginger has a great effect in reducing these lipid profiles and minimizing your risk of

 developing atherosclerosis. This positive effect of ginger on heart must be of interest to everyone.

5. Antidiabetic properties. Diabetes is an abnormal of blood glucose. Excess glucose is normally converted into glycogen and this will later be released into the bloodstream when needed by the body cells. Insulin also carries the glucose to the skeletal muscles for absorption.

In diabetes, it’s either your skeletal muscles are not responding to the glucose or you are not able to produce enough insulin or that your body has a problem with converting the excess glucose into glycogen. Ginger contains gingerol which helps to stimulate the synthesis of glycogen to allow excess glucose to be stored as glycogen. Gingerol also makes the skeletal muscles have a preference for insulin to allow glucose to enter into the skeletal muscles. As said earlier, diabetes is one of the major causes of cardiovascular disease. Hence, treating or controlling diabetes means you are also reducing your risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Consuming this ingredient will help derive the best anti-diabetic effect of ginger on heart.

6. Ginger has an anti – hypertensive property. High blood pressure is one of the risk factors of developing cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle and diet can control high blood pressure, also minimizing stress and inflammation also helps to control hypertension. Gingerol and shogaol in ginger help to control stress and inflammation. They also reduce cholesterol and atherosclerosis. Gingerol and shogaol also increase blood vessel elasticity to allow easy flow of blood through them to improve high blood pressure.