Ginger metabolites found in mouse plasma after ginger diet
What it found
In mice fed a ginger extract diet for 5 weeks, 20 ginger-related metabolites appeared in the blood and could be used as markers of ginger intake.
The ginger diet also changed levels of the body's own metabolites, especially those involved in purine metabolism.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
Ginger exposure markers
Twenty ginger metabolites were found in the blood of mice on the ginger diet but not in control mice. These included gingerols, shogaols, and their glucuronidated forms.
Library importance
Without the custom ginger library, only four ginger metabolites could be annotated using online databases, and none were accurately identified. With the library, all 20 were correctly identified.
Body metabolite changes
The ginger diet significantly changed the levels of many of the body's own metabolites. The most affected pathways were purine metabolism and the biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan.
Weight and intake
After 5 weeks, mice on the ginger diet weighed less on average than control mice (43.55 g vs 45.98 g). They also ate slightly less food but drank more water.
Potential health links
Some changed metabolites, like N-acetyl-l-tyrosine and cortisol, have been linked to anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, or immune effects in other studies. The authors say these need to be tested in people.
What the authors conclude
“Overall, our findings suggest that more effort is needed by the metabolomic community to address the lack of dietary biomarkers, which in turn will allow researchers to correlate potential health benefits associated with food consumption.”
Also in their conclusions
- They confirm the need to build and expand mass spectral libraries of dietary metabolites to discover food biomarkers.
- They say that further studies should evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of trials.
- They suggest that more effort is needed by the metabolomic community to address the lack of dietary biomarkers, which will help researchers link potential health benefits to food consumption.
How it was done
The authors wanted to build a mass spectral library of ginger metabolites because public and commercial libraries of dietary metabolites are limited, making it hard to identify food biomarkers. They also wanted to explore metabolic changes linked to ginger intake and potential health benefits.
They fed two groups of mice either a control diet or a diet with 0.6% ginger extract for 5 weeks. The control group had 5 mice and the ginger group had 4 mice. They then analyzed the mice's blood plasma using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
What it can’t tell you
- This study was in mice, so it cannot show what happens in people.
- The number of mice was small, which could affect the detection of significant metabolites.
- The authors note that only about 17% of metabolites found in animal models are also found in humans, so these results may not apply to people.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NHLBI NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no competing financial interest.
- Authors work at
- North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, United States
The paper
- Title
- Using Metabolomics to Identify the Exposure and Functional Biomarkers of Ginger
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Esquivel-Alvarado D, Zhang S, Hu C, Zhao Y, Sang S (2022). Using Metabolomics to Identify the Exposure and Functional Biomarkers of Ginger. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.2c05117Free full textPubMed 36099064DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error