Ginger is an herb. The rhizome (underground stem) is used as a spice and also as a medicine. It can be used fresh, dried and powdered, or as a juice or oil. Ginger is commonly used to treat various types of "stomach problems," including motion sickness, morning sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting after surgery, as well as loss of appetite. Other uses include treating upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis.

Policegoudra RS, Rehna K, Rao LJ, Aradhya SM. Antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity and platelet aggregation inhibitory activity of a novel molecule isolated and characterized from mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome. 1. J Biosci. 2010 Jun;35(2):231-40.

Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) rhizome is used in the manufacture of pickles and other food preparations due to its unique raw mango flavour. The chloroform extract of mango ginger rhizome was subjected to antibacterial activity-guided purification by repeated silica gel column chromatography to obtain a pure compound. The structure of the isolated compound was deduced by analysing UV, IR, LC-MS and 2D-HMQCT NMR spectral data, and named it as amadaldehyde, a novel compound. It exhibited a wide range of antibacterial activity with potential bactericidal activity against several bacteria. The purified compound also exhibited antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity and platelet aggregation inhibitory activities.