Food Value of Two Varieties of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Commonly Consumed in Nigeria

Abstract

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a well-known and widely used herb, which contains several interesting bioactive constituents and possesses health-promoting properties. The proximate, mineral, antinutrient, amino acid, and phytochemical components of two varieties of ginger (Zingiber officinale) were investigated. Amino acid composition was determined using standard analytical techniques. The results obtained in percentages in the two varieties of ginger (white and yellow types) were crude fibre (21.90, 8.30), fat (17.11, 9.89), carbohydrate (39.70, 58.21), crude protein (12.05, 11.65), ash (4.95, 7.45) and moisture (3.95, 4.63) contents respectively. Elemental analysis revealed that potassium (0.98 ppm and 1.38 ppm) is the most abundant, while copper (0.01 ppm) is the least. Phytochemical screening indicated that they are both rich in saponins, anthraquinones, phlobatannin and glycosides. Also, the antinutrient constituents of white ginger were lower than yellow ginger, although the levels of the antinutrient constituents in the two varieties are saved for consumption. The essential amino acids in the two varieties were almost the same, with Leu being the most abundant in both. The two ginger varieties were adequate only in Leu, Phe + Try, and valine based on FAO/WHO provisional pattern. Overall, the findings indicate that the two varieties of ginger are good sources of nutrients, mineral elements, amino acid, and phytochemicals which could be exploited as great potentials for drugs and/or nutritional supplements.

Phytochemical Screening and Effects of Temperature on Proximate Analysis and Mineral Composition of Zingiber officinale Rosc.

“…The phytochemical screening of the fresh rhizomes of Z. officinale revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannin, saponins, phlobatannins, flavonoids, anthraquinones, steroids, terpenes, cardenolides, phenols and cardiac glycosides although in varying quantities. These results were in agreement with results reported by [24] and [25].…”

Determination of concentration of heavy metals in ginger using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy

“…Krejpcio et al (2007) reported that the content of zinc concentration of spices in Polish markets is found to be 5.96 to 16.95 mg/kg which is higher than results obtained in this work. The mean concentration of zinc determined in this study is lower than the value determined in India (Devi et al, 2008) but greater than the value obtained (0.03-0.04 mg/kg) in Nigeria (Ajayi et al, 2013). The content of zinc in ginger sample of the current study (Ethiopia) is less than the permissible limit set by WHO/FAO (2011) in edible plants (50 mg/kg).…”

“…Ginger contains several compounds and its major components are 6-gingerol, 6shogaol, and 6-paradol that possess strong antioxidant activity (Prasad and Tyagi, 2015) and it possesses health benefits. Ginger also contains different nutrients such as protein, fats, insoluble fibers, soluble fibers, carbohydrates and vitamins (Shirin and Jamush, 2010;Ajayi et al, 2013).…”

Effect of dietary supplementation of ginger and turmeric rhizomes on angiotensin-1 converting enzyme (ACE) and arginase activities in L-NAME induced hypertensive rats

“…Nevertheless, dietary supplementation with ginger rhizomes restores the level of NO in hypertensive rats. This increase in NO could be a result of the fact that ginger rhizomes exhibited inhibitory effect on arginase activity or by increasing endogenous L-arginine level through dietary means as reported by Ajayi, Akomolafe, and Akinyemi (2013).…”