Role of Garlic and Ginger in Anti-oxidative and Anti-inflammatory Effects in Aging

Abstract

Aging is deterioration of the physiological functions in human body, which is associated with several diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, neurological disease, cancer, and other metabolic disorders. It has been reported that oxidative stress and inflammation mainly contribute to the progression of aging. Hence, depletion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and protective effect against inflammation could be the main strategies to extend lifespan of human beings. Due to side effects of drugs, recent researches focus on herbal medicines over the last two decades. Garlic (Allium sativum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) are the most commonly used dietary seasoning in the world. Previous studies show that garlic lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, homocysteine, boost immunity and decreases oxidative stress and inflammation, which are associated with anti-aging mechanism. Moreover, ginger and its bioactive compounds have shown the suppression of lipid peroxidation and recovered the levels of glutathione (GSH). In addition, ginger has shown the anti-inflammatory effect by decreasing nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor, alpha (IκBα) degradation and impairing nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) nuclear translocation of p65. Scientific evidences suggest that garlic and ginger both showed the protective effects against oxidative stress by depleting ROS and inflammation and extending life span. In this review, we discuss active components of garlic and ginger, and their biological roles in anti-aging, anti-oxidative and antiinflammatory effects.