91 / 196
AOAC Stakeholder Panel on Dietary
Supplements: Background and
Fitness for Purpose for Ginger
Anton Bzhelyansky
AOAC 2016 Annual Meeting – Dallas, TX, USA
SPDS September 16, 2016
Ginger Plant
The ginger plant is a herbaceous perennial grown as an annual
crop. The plant is erect, has many fibrous roots, aerial shoots
(pseudostem) with leaves, and the underground stem (rhizome).
Ginger (
Zingiber officinale
Roscoe) is a sterile, reed-like plant with
t d
ti hi
hi h it li
f
t ti
a pungen an aroma c r zome on w c re es or vege a ve
propagation. The plant is a cultigen, that is, it is only known from
cultivation. Its wild origins are not known with certainty but are
believed to be India or South-East Asia.
Ginger rhizome, known as
Rhizoma Zingiberis
in pharmacy is used
in several traditional systems of medicine, including Traditional
Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and Western herbal medicine. Its
traditional uses cover a great variety of complaints including
dyspepsia, flatulence and colic, nausea and vomiting, colds and
flu, migraine, as well as muscular and rheumatic disorders.
Wohlmuth,H 2008, 'Phytochemistryand pharmacology of plants from the ginger family,Zingiberaceae', PhD thesis, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.