There has been no decisive treatment for Multiple Sclerosi yet. The use of herbal medicines in Multiple Sclerosis patients has increased dramatically over the past decade. Treatment with medicinal herbs has been shown useful for treating various disorders since ancient times. Previous studies have suggested that herbal remedies have many therapeutic effects on various disorders, including cancer, diabetes, and neurogenic diseases.
Ginger or Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae) is a routinely used spice. Also, it has been recommended for the treatment of various illnesses in traditional Asian medicine, such as stomach ache, nausea and diarrhea, and joint and muscle pain. The ginger extract also has antioxidant neuroprotective and anxiolytic effects. It contains over 400 different types of compounds; however, the greatest healing effect of ginger is due to its gingerols, shogaols, zingerone, and paradols. Ginger and some of its derivatives can be used to treat some autoimmune disorders, such as Multiple Sclerosis.
Currently, there is no definite cure for Multiple Sclerosis, therefore, finding a fully effective and safe treatment has been widely considered. Some drugs such as fingolimod are used in clinic. The reason for choosing fingolimod as a standard drug is that it has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier, also it can prevent demyelination of axon fibers, inhibit lymphocyte proliferation, and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Similar to the function of fingolomod, the essential oil of ginger was reported to have the properties of the blood-brain barrier action, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and in general its neuroprotective properties.
According to numerous studies, fingolimod and ginger are both able to cross the blood-brain barrier and both have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties that can inhibit myelin degradation. So far, no known side effects have been reported for ginger, while fingolimod has many side effects, including high blood pressure, skin necrosis, hair loss.
Ginger can be presented as an alternative and complementary approach to potentially improve brain disorders due to its neuroprotective effects. Multiple Sclerosis patients have been advised to take ginger because of its anti-inflammatory effects.
The results suggests that ginger essential oil (Zingiber officinale)essential oil administration prevents demyelination and improves remyelination in the CNS. Thus, ginger essential oil may be used as a preventive and therapeutic agent in some neurodegenerative diseases, such as MS.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38106635/