Turmeric vs Ginger

Turmeric and ginger are two flowering plants that have over the years been used as a form of natural medicine. They are mainly used as food and tea spices but some people also eat them in their raw format. In some scenarios, they are also dried and pounded into a powder that they use to spice up food or tea.

These two plants have a couple of similarities. Both of these plants originate from southern Asia and both are self-propagating rhizomes from the Zingberacaea family. Rhizomes are a form of modified plat stem that is either at the soil surface or underground that contains nodes from which roots and shoots originate.

However, these two are different in some of the nutrients they contain. Ginger is composed of gingerol, magnesium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, phosphorus, copper, iron, calcium, and zinc. On the other hand, Turmeric has iron, manganese, Vitamin B6, dietary fiber, potassium, demethoxycurcumin and turmerols.

Some of the nutrients are shared by both plants but most of them differ. All these nutrients have different functions that they serve in the human body. That’s why some of the benefits you may get from eating any of these two plants may in some cases be the same. Let’s look at some of these benefits;

Benefits of turmeric

•         Turmeric increases the antioxidant capacity of the body. Oxidative damage is one of the main causes of aging of the body. Eating turmeric will help you reduce this damage hence slowing down the aging of the body
•         Turmeric improves the circulation of blood in the body and digestion
•         Curcumin that is found in turmeric is a natural anti-Inflammatory Compound. This helps the body remove foreign elements that maybe toxic.
•         It also helps in reducing depression.
•         Curcumin that is found in turmeric lowers the risk of brain disease.
•         It also lowers the risk of getting heart related diseases.
•         It discourages the growth of cancer cells in the body hence reducing the risk of getting cancers
•         People with Arthritis respond positively whenever they are given supplements with Curcumin
•         Turmeric also works as a detox for the liver
•         It also improves the healing process of wounds
•         It is also helpful in treating and preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

Benefits of Ginger

•         Ginger helps in treating chronic indigestions
•         Ginger also helps in reducing muscle pain and soreness
•         Ginger is known for reducing the risk of getting heart related diseases.
•         It also helps in treating many forms of nausea
•         It is also known for reducing sugar levels in the body. This is good for people who are diabetic
•         Ginger also helps in the absorption of food nutrients into the body
•         Raw ginger is also believed to lower the risk of getting cancer
•         It also helps in lowering cholesterol levels in the body
•         Powered ginger is also known to help in reducing menstrual pain in ladies
•         Ginger is also believed to improve brain functionality and memory
•         Ginger has some nutrients that help in fighting infections

From the above, you should clearly see that the two plants have a lot of benefits in common mainly because they have the same components. These two may have the same benefits but the kind of flavor and color that they bring to the food or drinks is a bit different.

Turmeric has a distinctive bright yellow color that when added to the food will exactly spice up the food with that color. On the other hand, the color and aroma of ginger are different from that of turmeric that all together will make your tea or food test different if it has ginger instead of turmeric.

Giger also has that a sweet and spicy effect that it adds into the food/drinks whereas turmeric is a bit bitter with a pepper like an aroma. Actually, turmeric is one of the main components that make up Indian Curry. It’s the component that creates a bitter taste in the curry. Its for this reason that ginger is more suitable for drinks and turmeric for foods. If you love that pepper-like taste in your food, you will surely enjoy adding turmeric in your food

Some powdered tea manufacturers have actually opted to combine these two plants in order to create something that has a flavor from both of these plants. However, some people who are used to having either ginger or turmeric alone may not love this combination and would prefer having any of the two without mixing them.