Ginger and turmeric both have a long history in our kitchens as ways to make food more interesting and flavorful. At the same time, each is associated with a range of health benefits – to the point that some people take them as supplements.
In many ways, comparing ginger vs turmeric is easy, as the two have many similarities.
Like how they are commonly used as spices in cooking - In both cases, we use the rhizome or root of the plant, typically powdered.
Still, there are also many differences.
Like how the two spices vary in their flavors and their uses.
At the same time, much of the discussion about ginger vs turmeric comes down to their health benefits. Both do have advantages for health and are relevant for different situations.
Ginger comes from the plant Zingiber offcinale and is traditionally used in Asian, Indian and Arabic herbal medicine, while also being a common cooking ingredient. In fact, ginger has been used as a medical herb for upwards of 2,000 years (1).
In the case of ginger, there are multiple compounds associated with those actions (2,3,4), along with specific groups that are interesting, such as flavonoids and alkaloids (5).
Health Benefits of Ginger
In terms of health, ginger is most commonly associated with the potential to fight nausea, although it is relevant in other areas as well.
The research about ginger and nausea has been surprisingly mixed.
This impact may be connected to ginger’s potential benefit for fighting inflammation (14,15). Again though, not all evidence agrees (16,17).
Finally, some studies suggest that ginger may be relevant for helping with asthma, although this research is still in the early stages (32,33,34).
The most common use of ginger is for cooking.
In most cases, you probably wouldn’t be using a large amount of ginger – as the flavor is fairly strong. Indeed, ginger has a fairly pungent smell and the taste is spicy and sharp. The overall flavor is one that many people love, while some others cannot stand it.
For example, ginger is a common ingredient in many dinner recipes, especially if you are focusing on Asian meals. Likewise, ginger is often used in stir-fries and in soups, particularly in the winter.
In some cases, doing so may involve adding ginger into tea that you have brewed. Other people choose to make ginger tea by pouring hot water over a piece of fresh ginger. There is a good recipe for doing so at Genius Kitchen.
You can also add other ingredients to either option, such as honey and lemon, both of which are associated with their own benefits. The end result is a perfect winter drink, especially if you’re trying to decrease caffeine intake.
Indeed, a hot drink can often be a powerful way to promote weight loss and this is one reason why weight loss teas and coffee (like Javita coffee) are so popular.
Now, there is no consensus view on how much ginger you should be having, with studies ranging from less than 1 gram per day up to around 3 grams per day of powdered ginger.
If you are using fresh ginger, the calculation is more complicated, as fresh ginger contains liquid, which makes it heavier. As a rule of thumb, many people simply double the powdered amount to get an approximation for fresh ginger.
You can
There is no shortage of options for doing so, such as this popular brand from Amazon. You can also use ginger extract if you find that form to be more useful.
Turmeric comes from the plant Zingiber officinale and is widely known for its vibrant yellow-orange color. It is most commonly used to give flavor and appearance to Indian curries, although it does also have medicinal properties.
Many of the benefits are associated with the active ingredient in turmeric, which is curcumin (35,36). This is a powerful antioxidant and has also been associated with anti-inflammatory properties, much like ginger.
Curcumin is also the compound that creates the pigment in turmeric. There is even some curcumin present in ginger as well, although there is much more of it in turmeric.
Health Benefits of Turmeric
There has been a large amount of research into turmeric, with more than 7,000 different studies looking into turmeric or curcumin (37).
As with ginger, turmeric is strongly associated with anti-inflammatory properties.
For that matter, curcumin has been traditionally used in treating inflammation because it interacts with various parts of the inflammatory pathways (38,39,40). Likewise, research suggests that turmeric may be relevant in improving outcomes for a range of inflammatory conditions, including some digestive diseases (41,42). This does also mean that turmeric may be able to help fight pain associated with osteoarthritis (43).
Beyond these actions, turmeric and/or curcumin have been associated with a range of specific health benefits.
C urcumin may help to improve the immune system and the responses of antibodies (47,48,49). This also contributes to the potential to reduce food allergy symptoms (50,51). Likewise, curcumin has been associated with improvements in mental health (52,53,54,55,56) and cardiovascular health (57,58,59), especially when used as a supplement. - Curcumin may also help to protect the liver (60), especially for people with diabetes (61,62,63). However, the research here is in its early stages, with most studies having been conducted on animals.
- Some studies also suggest that turmeric may be relevant in protecting against Alzheimer’s disease (64,65,66) and even fighting cancer (67,68,69,70).
The most common way to include turmeric in your diet would be in curries.
After all, the spice is frequently used in this role and can make curries look and taste amazing. Indeed, some research even suggests that using turmeric in curries may increase the bioavailability because of the fat that is in the curry (75).
If you were planning to get turmeric in this way, you might use turmeric powder itself or rely on curry powder. However, turmeric powder would be a better choice as curry powder typically contains a mix of spices and relatively little curcumin (76).
The site Kitchn offers a list of 19 different turmeric recipes that you can try out.
Additionally, turmeric can also be used in smoothies or in tea. For example, some people make smoothies that use turmeric, cinnamon and often ginger as well.
This type of smoothie can be very healthy and offers a great way to get a range of beneficial ingredients into your diet.
A common alternative is to take curcumin or turmeric in the form of supplements. This may be especially relevant to anybody who does not like the taste of turmeric or does not eat curry frequently.
Now, there is an additional challenge with turmeric in that curcumin is not easily absorbed in the body and is poorly soluble in water. At the same time, the compound is metabolized rapidly, giving the body little chance to take advantage of it (77,78).
As a result, there are various formulations of curcumin that increase bio-availability (79,80).
This pattern makes supplements like this one below a particularly powerful choice if you want benefits from turmeric. Another option is this brand. It uses a different type of formulation, which is supposed to be more bioavaliable. That claim may be true but it may also simply be marketing. But regardless, it is another option for curcumin supplementation.
The issue of bioavailability may also mean that you get more benefits from supplementing with curcumin than including it in your diet directly.
Ginger vs Turmeric
When comparing ginger vs turmeric, it’s clear that these are significantly different spices. In particular, they vary in their flavor profile, the way that they are used and, most relevantly, in their health benefits.
But, this isn’t really the case of one being better than the other.
Instead, both spices offer benefits to health and are a valuable addition to your diet. Likewise, they both contain antioxidants and compounds that actively fight inflammation.
For turmeric and ginger, you can choose to supplement the compounds or use them in food. The supplements will sometimes be extracts of the spice or simply a powdered version and in the case of turmeric, various formulations exist to help with bioavailability.
What's your favorite spice? Is it ginger, turmeric or something else?
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