Morning sickness, travel sickness, in fact all nausea can be helped by taking ginger says Sarah Stacey

If someone told you that NASA astronauts took ginger into space to combat travel sickness, you might tell them to pull the other one. In fact, it's 100 per cent true: the knobbly brown rhizome is a champion at treating nausea of all kinds - even hangovers.

Trials at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London in 1990 found the herb to be more effective than conventional medicines in relieving feelings of sickness after operations. It is also effective for pregnant women with morning sickness that is notoriously hard to quell.

Biblical roots?
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a native of Asia and, since the earliest times it has been revered for its medicinal qualities by the leading traditional medical systems of those regions - Tibetan, Ayurvedic (from India) and Chinese. By the Middle Ages, its fame had spread to Europe: indeed its powers were so impressive that it was thought to come from the Garden of Eden.

If you've tasted ginger in any form, it will come as no surprise that practitioners of traditional medicine categorise it as a warming remedy. Various related plants in the same Zingiberaceae family are also used medicinally; the most valuable is turmeric, much used in Indian food and medicine, which has been shown to be helpful in digestive and liver problems.

Ginger's antiseptic properties make it helpful in cases of food poisoning: in a trial in China, 70 per cent of patients with bacillary dysentery (infected with the Shigella bacterium) who were given ginger made a full recovery. Additionally, it is an important remedy for stimulating the circulation and helping the blood flow to the surface. This makes it a useful remedy for chilblains and conditions such as peripheral neuritis, where the blood flow to the feet and/or hands is poor. By improving the circulation, ginger can help high blood pressure. It also helps reduce high temperatures by increasing sweating.

In China, fresh ginger (Sheng jian in Chinese; Singabera in Sanskrit) is prescribed for chills, fever, headaches and aching muscles. Dried ginger is used for 'internal cold' with symptoms such as cold hands, weak pulse and a pale complexion. You can use ginger at home in several different forms, both fresh and dried.

General uses
Arthritic aches and pains: dilute five drops of ginger essential oil in 20 drops of a carrier oil and add to bath.

Chilblains and cold sores: add 1/4 tsp fresh ginger peeled and grated into your food daily (this is also recommended for high blood pressure). Alternatively, drink a sherry glass of ginger wine each day. Externally, you can also apply fresh ginger, sliced or grated, to unopened chilblains twice a day. You can do this when the chilblain opens, but it will sting.

Colds, cough, flu, sore throats and tonsillitis: use ginger with garlic and lemon. Crush a medium-sized garlic clove, grate the same size piece of peeled fresh ginger and mix with the juice of one lemon and one tsp of honey. Pour over a cup of hot water. Stir and drink up to three cups daily while symptoms last.

Constipation: for a strong laxative, use ginger and senna. Steep one-three slices (one gram) of fresh ginger in 150 ml of warm water with three-six senna pods. Take for up to 10 days. Warning: Long-term use of senna is harmful. Do not give to children under five and do not take during pregnancy.

Digestive problems: ginger juice is a natural anti-inflammatory. Simply juice a large piece of peeled fresh ginger and keep in a small bottle in the fridge (it lasts for a week); take one tsp of the juice with one tsp runny honey (such as Manuka honey from New Zealand, which has many medicinal properties) daily after breakfast.

Eating one or two slices of fresh ginger daily, plus one or two garlic cloves, will help cold sores (and also chicken pox and shingles); you can also apply fresh ginger to unopened sores up to six times daily.

Hangovers: drink ginger tea with lemon before going to bed and through the morning and day after; also put ginger oil in your bath.

Morning sickness: make an infusion of ginger tea using half a tsp of grated fresh ginger per cup of pure still water. Infuse for at least five minutes. Sip small amounts frequently throughout the day, rather than drinking a whole cup at a time. Take a maximum of three cups a day. Alternatively, you can take a capsule containing about 75 mg of ginger every hour. This can be taken during the first three months of pregnancy.

Nausea and travel sickness: drink up to five cups of ginger tea daily and sip while hot. You can top up the same ginger with hot water several times because the ginger 'cooks' and actually gets stronger. Take the tea in a flask if you are travelling or chew crystallised ginger; if nothing else is available you can eat ginger biscuits.

General well-being
Make or buy a fresh juice of apples, carrots and ginger. Use about four large apples (washed but not peeled), four medium carrots (washed, topped and tailed) to a one-inch chunk of peeled fresh ginger.

Cautions

• Do not take ginger in medicinal doses if you have a peptic ulcer
  
• Do not take the essential oil internally