Gingered ails

A news release was recently issued by North Carolina Central with the headline "Researchers from NCCU, N.C. A&T Develop Anemia Treatment." The release goes on to say that TinChung Leung of NCCU and Dr. Shengemin Sang of the SAES's Center for Excellence in Post Harvest Technologies have findings concerning "a promising use of ginger that may lead to the development of a treatment for anemia that the scientists were invited to present  at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Chicago [in April]." Leung and Sang, both part of their respective universities' staffs at the  N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, have found that a compound in ginger called gingerol can combat anemia in mice and zebrafish. 

The 2012 issue of the Agricultural Research Program's annual magazine, Re:search, carried a story, "Functional Foods for Disease Prevention" that provides the complete background on Sang's research as well as other promising developments emanating from his work with  gingerol and other compounds found in ginger.