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Ginger for cognition?


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#1 gamesguru

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Posted 07 August 2012 - 02:04 AM


This article, though it focuses on middle-aged women and it reports only modest (if even statistically significant) cognitive benefits, suggested to me and made me suspicious of the possibility that ginger is a good adjunctive therapy for age-related cognitive decline, which research increasingly suggests begins already in the 3rd decade of life (starting at, if not before, age 20).

One popular and undisproven (and controversial) theory is that all substances which significantly enhance cerebral blood-flow will significantly enhance cognition, due specifically and primarily to the enhanced blood-flow, and only incidentally and secondarily due to other mechanisms (such as acetylcholinerase inhibition, or COX inhibition). This would potentially explain why ginkgo, piracetam, vinpocetine, hydergine, exercise, potentially aspirin, and others are observed to be anti-dementia and pro-cognition. Evidently, these substances have drawbacks and side-effects, some documented, some perhaps unknown, and 6-gingerol might as well have its dark side.
The antithetical and competing theory claims that blood delivery above and beyond homeostatic levels encourage more oxidative stress, due perhaps to increasing oxygen equilibrium in the brain. It could also increase inflammation by promoting the spread of pathogens to neurons or by delivering more white blood cells and inflammatory compounds to the brain. These theories are also undisproven. However, abstaining from exercise and indulging in alcohol (reported to be vasoconstrictive at higher doses, and vasodilative only at lower doses) do not seem to confer dementia patients any profound benefits, thereby delivering a harsh blow to this theory.

My idea is that these observed benefits to cognition (though very small) are due to enhanced cerebral blood-flow, perhaps via anti-platelet activity. Ginger is well-documented to have blood-thinning properties. Could this strongly or even modestly improve cognition?

I juice 2-3 grams of ginger daily since it is purported to attenuate chronic inflammation related to arthritis, heart disease, asthma, cancer and more. If it were also conferring a mild, long-term cognitive boost, I would have no complaints. My fear though is that it is potentially doing more harm than good.
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#2 dear mrclock

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Posted 07 August 2012 - 09:21 AM

what do you mean by last phrase saying it might potentially be doing more harm than good ?

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#3 Logic

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Posted 07 August 2012 - 09:52 AM

All you ever wanted to know about ginger! :)
In Vince Giuliano's excellent blog:
http://www.anti-agin...ocus-on-ginger/
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#4 johnross47

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Posted 07 August 2012 - 06:58 PM

I must increase my consumption. I didn't know there was so much to know about it.

#5 dear mrclock

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Posted 08 August 2012 - 01:13 AM

ah as expected. overblown potential results related, the "perfect cure-it-all" marketing herbalists do. its based on very few reliable consistent human studies but hey, its so good, must be true !

Edited by dear mrclock, 08 August 2012 - 01:15 AM.


#6 CIMN

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Posted 08 August 2012 - 08:03 AM

ah as expected. overblown potential results related, the "perfect cure-it-all" marketing herbalists do. its based on very few reliable consistent human studies but hey, its so good, must be true !



perhaps, but the fact that its a tasty food condiment/ingredient is good enough for me! taste great as a tea or with sushi :) or both together.

Edited by CIMN, 08 August 2012 - 08:04 AM.


#7 SATANICAT

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Posted 08 August 2012 - 05:42 PM

Just from my experience, ginger potentiates any amphetamine's efficacy for ADD problems, I specifically notice more hyperfocus. It also helps keep any stomach ache from amphetamine salts away too. Yay ginger!

#8 gamesguru

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Posted 26 April 2017 - 08:43 PM

vince's article still echos loudly today anything i would say.  mrclock was banned thought it still needs saying that herbalists have nothing really to sell but their pride (unless they start a shop, hey it could happen)

 

and with all due respect if you're going to hate on a plant, you made a lousy choice with ginger.  it's been studied on mice like a thousand times.. it's as effective against anxiety as buspar and it's the single greatest known herbal inducer of testosterone synthesis (+17.7%).  kneel and kiss the earth a thousand times.  cause man if you get cancer and have to take nauseating drugs, heaven forbid you turn to ginger.  vile, vile stuff.  did i mention how it's terrible for people with arthritis?



#9 PeaceAndProsperity

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Posted 27 April 2017 - 12:43 AM

I find that blood thinners, exercise and things that dilate blood vessels via nitric oxide or what have you, give me odd cognitive deficits like for example I write a sentence and I mix up two words or I miss adding a word or something to that effect. So no, I don't think so OP, I think it's the opposite.



#10 ceridwen

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Posted 27 April 2017 - 01:16 AM

It might be worth a try but for how long.

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#11 gamesguru

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Posted 27 April 2017 - 01:17 AM

dude my chess rating went up 150 points after a cup of gingerale.  okay that's bullshit, but still, i haven't noticed any dyslexia or whatever kind of impairments you're describing.  and i do a lot of reading / writing.  so i'm terribly sorry for your reaction to ginger, but the experience isn't representative of the whole.  now tbh i'm not even that convinced ginger is much of a nootropic, but for physical health it's alright.  and this may be the "brain health" section but i'll sit here all night splitting hairs about anxiety and testosterone, probably because im still bitter over the fact that no one slept with me in high school and it took forever for me to get out of my shell

 

maybe ginger is just flushing your pipes out, cleaning the cobwebs so to speak and you gotta do it every day if you wanna reach your highest boiling point?  do ginkgo and chocolate also give you troubles?  even just going by common noots n supps, the list of NO modulators is a long one.  a lot of things subtly influence you in both directions, e.g. tea inhibits iNos but promotes NO release.  so who the heck knows anyways

 

maybe your dyslexia is more severe or another variant.  don't really know.  but i found this.  i can also tell you the white matter and specifically the myelin on the oligodendrcytes is whats causing your dyslexia (a lot of NO synthase and receptor in that area).  white matter acts as sort of a highway or telephone line, high bandwidth connections between brain regions.  a lot of fwiw it's also the first part of the brain to receive blood during each heart beat

 

Dyslexia and familial high blood pressure: an observational pilot study

K Taylor and J Stein

Author information ► Copyright and License information ►

This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract

Background: Developmental dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental learning disability characterised by unexpectedly poor reading and unknown aetiology. One hypothesis proposes excessive platelet activating factor, a potent vasodilator, as a contributor, implying that there should be a negative association between dyslexia and high blood pressure (HBP). Since both conditions have a partial genetic basis, this association may be apparent at the familial level.

Aims: To test this prediction in dyslexic and non-dyslexic children.

Methods: Individuals and families with (HBP+) and without (HBP-) a family history of HBP were compared.

Results: Proportionately fewer dyslexics (49/112) than controls (11/12) were HBP+. Families with multiple, all dyslexic children were less likely to be HBP+ (7/16) than those with a non-dyslexic child (11/11). Within families, mean child scores on reading were higher in the HBP+ group (mean 44.3, SE 0.95) than in the HBP- group (mean 40.3, SE 0.87).

Conclusion: HBP+ family history is associated with better performance on reading. The prediction of a negative association between dyslexic status and familial high blood pressure is therefore confirmed.AbstractBackground: Developmental dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental learning disability characterised by unexpectedly poor reading and unknown aetiology. One hypothesis proposes excessive platelet activating factor, a potent vasodilator, as a contributor, implying that there should be a negative association between dyslexia and high blood pressure (HBP). Since both conditions have a partial genetic basis, this association may be apparent at the familial level.Aims: To test this prediction in dyslexic and non-dyslexic children.Methods: Individuals and families with (HBP+) and without (HBP-) a family history of HBP were compared.

Results: Proportionately fewer dyslexics (49/112) than controls (11/12) were HBP+. Families with multiple, all dyslexic children were less likely to be HBP+ (7/16) than those with a non-dyslexic child (11/11). Within families, mean child scores on reading were higher in the HBP+ group (mean 44.3, SE 0.95) than in the HBP- group (mean 40.3, SE 0.87).

Conclusion: HBP+ family history is associated with better performance on reading. The prediction of a negative association between dyslexic status and familial high blood pressure is therefore confirmed.


Edited by gamesguru, 27 April 2017 - 01:24 AM.





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