Phytochemical and Traditional Uses of Red Ginger: A Review (Zingiber officinale var. rubrum)

Red ginger (Zingiber officinale var. rubrum) is one of the herbal plants that have been widely known by Indonesian for generations. This plant is easy to obtain and has various health benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain information about the phytochemicals and their traditional uses. The search for information was carried out by studying literature from various sources such as official books, Google Scholar and Garba Digital References (GARUDA) in the 2011-2021 range. The results showed that red ginger plants contain chemical compounds in the form of gingerols, shogaols, homovanilyl alcohol, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, phenolics, steroids, triterpenoids, and essential oils. Red ginger is commonly used by the community as a cold medicine, as well as for indigestion, urine laxative, natural antioxidant, as an analgesic, and others. With the content of these compounds, red ginger is also reported to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiemetic activity.