Botany, phytochemistry and antimicrobial activity of ginger (Zingiber officinale): A review

Antibiotic resistance in every corner of the planet is growing to dangerously high levels. New mechanisms of resistance are emerging and spreading globally which threatens our ability to treat common infectious diseases. Many scientists documented some plants having antimicrobial properties. Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ZO), the most recognised member of Zingiber, is one of them. This review aims to validate the antimicrobial activity of ginger. The information and data on ZO were collated from various resources like ethnobotanical textbooks, Pub Med, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Scopus. ZO has many medicinal, nutritional and ethnomedical values and is commonly used as a spice, flavouring agent and herbal remedy worldwide. In addition to giving ginger its pungent aroma, volatile oil gingerol and other pungent principles are the most medically potent since they inhibit the production of prostaglandin and leukotriene, which are chemicals that affect blood flow and inflammation. Traditionally, it has been used as an herbal remedy for centuries in Ayurvedic, Tibb-Unani, Chinese, Islamic, Africans, the Caribbean and many other medicinal systems to cure a variety of diseases like throat infections, asthma, inflammation, dyspepsia, loss of appetite, palpitation, constipation and indigestion, colds, arthritis, nausea, hypertension, migraines, and many more. It has a high proportion of α-Zingiberene, β-sesquiphellandrene, (E,E)- α-farnesene, geranial and ar-curcumene. The ZO extracts, essential oil and chemical constituents exhibited antimicrobial, anticonvulsant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, immunomodulatory, and other beneficial activities. The research suggests that there are marked antimicrobial activities in the ginger that could be beneficial and applied in various research areas, such as the pharmaceutical and food industries. To understand the molecular mechanisms by which these effects are exerted, more research may be required.