Stomach cold pain, vomitting treated with TCM galangal root

What is galangal root(Gao Liang Jiang)?
First dried galangal root is ginger. Other common names are Lesser Galangal Rhizome, Galanga, Alpiniae officinarum Rhizoma, Rhizoma Alpiniae Officinarum, rhizoma galangae, Chinese ginger, and so on. Medicinally It refers to the dried rhizomes of Alpinia officinarum Hance, a plant in the family Zingiberaceae. Its name actually has tipped off a lot of information. It mainly comes from Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan in China. It was named so because it was mainly cultivated and produced in ancient Gao Liang county, where now is known as Zhanjiang and Maoming in Guangdong. This herb, namely the 4 to 6 years fresh galangal roots, is usually harvested in late summer and early autumn for best medicinal value. After that, remove the aerial stem of plant, fibrous roots and residual flakes, wash clean, cut into segments, dry in the sun, and used raw.

It is cylindrical, curved in most of them, 5 to 9cm long, 1 to 1.5cm in diameter, and with branches. Surface is from reddish brown to dark brown, and with fine longitudinal wrinkles and gray-brown wavy rings. Internode length is between 0.2 to 1cm and with rounded root marks on one side. It is tough and difficult to break. Cross section is fibrous and gray-brown or reddish-brown. Stele approximately takes up to one third. It has fragrant odor and spicy flavor.

Galangal root health benefits
As previously mentioned, galanga is tropical perennial ginger plant belonging to the genus of Alpinia. The uses for galangal root are extensive. It can be consumed for both medicinal and culinary purposes thanks to the facts that it is high in the nutrients. As a result today it is made into many different products to cater to different needs, such as galangal root tea, beer, powder, extract, essential oil, etc. So, how to use this herb to maximize its health benefits? Maybe we can get inspiration from its pharmacology.

Modern pharmacological actions of galangal herb
1. Its water extract has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects while its ether extract only has the analgesic effect. Both of them can resist the formation of animal experimental gastric ulcer and castor oil-induced diarrhea, and extend the duration of decapitated mouse’s mouth action and the survival time of potassium cyanide poisoned mice;

2. Its decoction by intragastric administration can increase the total gastric acid output in dogs, excite the movement of isolated rabbit’s intestine, and resist the ink progradation rate after the mice’s gastrointestinal inhibition induced by atropine;

3. Both its water extract and volatile oil resist thrombosis induced in vivo in rats received gavage;

4. 100% decoction has antibacterial effect on bacillus anthracis, α-or β-hemolytic streptococcus, diphtheria and diphtheroid bacilli, pneumococcus, staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus, and other gram positive bacteria.