question: Why does ginger ale seem to make gut and stomach pain go away?
comment: Ginger contains substances called gingerols and shogaols which help relieve digestive symptoms and inflammation by acting as a soothing agent
passages: Ginger ale, as with other ginger products and other non-ginger-flavored carbonated beverages, is often recommended as a home remedy for indigestion and motion sickness. It is also used to soothe coughs and sore throats.
  
  Ginger ale is usually acceptable for people on a clear liquid diet.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Nutrition.
  
  Ginger ale is generally high in sugar.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Uses as a drink.
   Traditional ginger ale is made from a microbial starter culture (yeast or ginger bug), sugar, fresh ginger root, other flavourings and water. Ginger bug can be derived from ginger beer plant containing "Saccharomyces florentinus" and "Lactobacillus hilgardii" or fresh ginger root containing Lactobacillus bacteria and wild yeast. The carbonation comes from the yeast fermentation as opposed to carbonating the finished product. Ethanol, as a byproduct of fermentation, will be present in the ginger ale but can be controlled by modifying fermentation time.
  
  Section::::Processing.
  
  Section::::Processing.:Fermentation.
   Ginger has been used for medicinal purposes since antiquity. In particular, it has been an important plant for the traditional Chinese and Korean pharmacopoeia. One of its indications has always been the treatment of nausea and vomiting. The aromatic, spasmolytic carminative and absorbent properties of ginger suggest that it has direct effects on the gastrointestinal tract. Ginger may be effective for nausea and vomiting. Animal experiments suggest that ginger has antiemetic activity when nausea is induced by cisplatin or cyclophosphamide. Studies in healthy human volunteers suggest that ginger reduces experimentally induced nausea.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Gamju
  
  BULLET::::- Jallab (Arab cuisine)
   BULLET::::- The traditional medicine ginger, which has shown anti-inflammatory properties in laboratory experiments, has been used to treat rheumatism, headache and digestive and respiratory issues, though there is no firm evidence supporting these uses.
  
  BULLET::::- A 2012 Cochrane review found no difference in mortality rate among 640 SARS patients when Chinese herbs were used alongside Western medicine versus Western medicine exclusively, although they concluded some herbs may have improved symptoms and decreased corticosteroid doses.
  
  BULLET::::- A 2012 Cochrane review found insufficient evidence to support the use of TCM for people with adhesive small bowel obstruction.
   Despite a marketing push that began in the late 1990s, Blenheim ginger ale is not widely distributed outside the Carolinas; however in more recent years, the company ships to 44 states and three international distributors. The spicy ale has, however, developed a cult following among food and wine aficionados. In February 1998, "New York Times" journalist Bill Grimes described the taste this way: "The first swallow brings on a four-sneeze fit. The second one clears out the sinuses and leaves the tongue and throat throbbing with prickly heat."
   It is popular in mixed drinks, and punch, and it is sometimes used as a non-alcoholic substitute for champagne or beer, since the beverages resemble each other in appearance. Ginger ale can be mixed with many hard liquors, beers and wines. In Jamaica, a common way to consume ginger ale is mixed with Red Stripe beer; this is called a Shandy Gaff.
  
  Section::::Variations.
  
  Section::::Variations.:Ginger ale vs ginger beer.
   Evidence that ginger helps alleviate nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy or pregnancy is inconsistent. There is no clear evidence of harm from taking ginger during pregnancy, although its safety has not been established. Ginger is not effective for treating dysmenorrhea, and there is insufficient evidence for it having analgesic properties due to the lack of well conducted trials. Available data provides weak evidence for its anti-inflammatory role and it may reduce the subjective experience of pain in osteoarthritis.
   BULLET::::- Alternative medicine: Acupuncture and ginger have been shown to have some anti emetic effects on chemotherapy-induced emesis and anticipatory nausea, but have not been evaluated in the nausea of far advanced disease.
  
  Section::::Management.:Palliative surgery.
   Preservation of commercial ginger ale is usually done by adding a solution of salicylic acid, which has bactericidal and antiseptic properties. Another method of preservation is to use steam heating.
  
  Canada Dry Ginger ale has an acidic pH of 2.82, due to the relatively high concentration of carbonic acid it contains. This preserves the product in that foods with pH below 4.6 do not support microorganism growth.
  
  Section::::Uses.
  
  Section::::Uses.:Health effects.
   A striking example of OPIDN occurred during the 1930s Prohibition Era when thousands of men in the American South and Midwest developed arm and leg weakness and pain after drinking a "medicinal" alcohol substitute. The drink, called "Ginger Jake," contained an adulterated Jamaican ginger extract containing tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP) which resulted in partially reversible neurologic damage. The damage resulted in the limping called "jake paralysis" – and also "jake leg" or "jake walk", which were terms frequently used in the blues music of the period. Europe and Morocco both experienced outbreaks of TOCP poisoning from contaminated abortifacients and cooking oil, respectively.
   BULLET::::- aloe as active ingredient
  
  BULLET::::- water extract of the following herbs:
  
  BULLET::::- angelica root ("Angelica archangelica")
  
  BULLET::::- carline thistle root ("Carlina acaulis")
  
  BULLET::::- camphor ("Cinnamomum camphora")
  
  BULLET::::- manna ("Fraxinus ornus")
  
  BULLET::::- myrrh
  
  BULLET::::- rhubarb root ("Rheum palmatum")
  
  BULLET::::- saffron
  
  BULLET::::- senna ("Senna alexandrina")
  
  BULLET::::- theriac venetian (theriac) (a mixture of many herbs and other substances)
  
  BULLET::::- zedoary root ("Curcuma zedoaria")
  
  There are variations on this recipe and herbal shops supply alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions of the drink.
  
  Maria Treben's book contains 9 pages on this bitter, with a description of many ailments and their cures.
   To make traditional ginger ale, yeast or ginger bug is added to the initial ginger preparation containing sugar and other flavourings. Sugar is added because ginger does not contain enough for the entire fermentation process (1.7g sugar/100g ginger). Like other fermented beverages, the sugar present in the preparation is fermented by the microorganism into ethanol and carbon dioxide. In yeast, the enzyme responsible for fermentation is known as zymase. Fermentation must be conducted in an air-tight container because contact with oxygen will cause the microorganisms to stop fermenting.
  
  Section::::Processing.:Carbonation.
   BULLET::::- A patient consuming a traditional Chinese medicine containing cocklebur called "Cang Er Zi Wan" (苍耳子丸) developed muscle spasms.
  
  BULLET::::- It was responsible for at least 19 deaths and 76 illnesses in Sylhet District, Bangladesh, 2007. People ate large amounts of the plants, locally called "ghagra shak", because they were starving during a monsoon flood and no other plants were available. The symptoms included vomiting and altered mental states, followed by unconsciousness.
  
  Section::::Use by Native Americans.
   Herbalists today consider goldenseal an alterative, anti-catarrhal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent, bitter tonic, laxative, anti-diabetic and muscular stimulant. They discuss the astringent effect it has on mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, the rectum (applied topically) and the skin. Goldenseal is very bitter, which stimulates the appetite and aids digestion, and often stimulates bile secretion.
  
  Section::::Constituents and modern pharmacology.
   Traditionally, ginger beer has always been popular as a non-alcoholic alternative to ordinary beer. There are two kinds of Welsh ginger beer, one uses a gingered herb to make 'small' beer and the other uses root ginger.
   Pickled herring is rich in tyramine and thus should be avoided in the diet of people being treated with an antidepressant monoamine oxidase inhibitor. That organic compound has also been associated with headaches, and so migraine sufferers should be aware.
   Ginger root, "Zingiber officinale", has been used in China for over 2,000 years to treat indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, and nausea. It is also used in TCM to treat arthritis, colic, diarrhea, heart conditions, the common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, and menstrual cramps. Today, health care professionals worldwide commonly recommend ginger to help prevent or treat nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness, pregnancy, and cancer chemotherapy. It is also used as a treatment for minor stomach upset, as a supplement for arthritis, and may even help prevent heart disease and cancer.
  
  Section::::Plants.:Ginkgo.
   Section::::Treatments.:Alternative treatments.:Ginger ("Zingiber officinale").
   BULLET::::- In Cormac McCarthy's 1979 novel Suttree, minor character Kenneth "Worm" Hazelwood turns down a drink of homemade whiskey, saying that the last time he drank such liquor, it gave him "the jakeleg."
  
  BULLET::::- In his autobiography "," Oliver Sacks describes research that he conducted to develop an animal model of jake paralysis. He was able to duplicate the toxic effects of TOCP on myelinated neurons in earthworms and chickens.
   Non-alcoholic ginger beer is a type of carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. An example is Stoney, a product of The Coca-Cola Company widely sold in southern and eastern Africa.
  
  Section::::Mixed drinks.
  
  The ginger beer soft drink may be mixed with beer (usually a British ale of some sort) to make one type of shandy, or with dark rum to make a drink, originally from Bermuda, called a Dark 'N' Stormy. It is the main ingredient in the Moscow Mule cocktail (although in some cases ginger ale is used as an alternative, where ginger beer is not available).
  
  Section::::See also.
   Thomas Joseph Cantrell, an Irish apothecary and surgeon, claimed to have invented ginger ale in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and marketed it with local beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company. Grattan embossed the slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale" on its bottles. This was the older style golden ginger ale, dark coloured, generally sweet to taste, with a strong ginger spice flavour. Ginger ale is clear; ginger beer is often cloudy due to the residues of brewing, and has a stronger ginger taste.
   A known antidote in Belize and Guatemala is the gumbo-limbo tree, of which the wood sap just under the bark is used topically, and a red tea made from boiling the gumbo-limbo leaves is then used several times a day as a wash or salve to alleviate itching and speed recovery/healing.
   Section::::Composition and safety.
  
  If consumed in reasonable quantities, ginger has few negative side effects. It is on the FDA's "generally recognized as safe" list, though it does interact with some medications, including the anticoagulant drug warfarin and the cardiovascular drug nifedipine.
  
  Section::::Composition and safety.:Chemistry.
   Consumption of foods which are themselves vasodilators, such as alcoholic beverages or cinnamon, can increase the probability of an angioedema episode in susceptible patients. If the episode occurs at all after the consumption of these foods, its onset may be delayed overnight or by some hours, making the correlation with their consumption somewhat difficult. In contrast, consumption of bromelain in combination with turmeric may be beneficial in reducing symptoms.
   Stomachic
  
  Stomachic is a historic term for a medicine that serves to tone the stomach, improving its function and increase appetite. While many herbal remedies claim stomachic effects, modern pharmacology does not have an equivalent term for this type of action.
  
  Herbs with stomachic effects include:
  
  BULLET::::- Agrimony
  
  BULLET::::- Aloe
  
  BULLET::::- Anise
  
  BULLET::::- Avens ("Geum urbanum")
  
  BULLET::::- Barberry
  
  BULLET::::- Bitterwood ("Picrasmaa excelsa")
  
  BULLET::::- Cannabis
  
  BULLET::::- Cayenne
  
  BULLET::::- "Centaurium"
  
  BULLET::::- "Cleome"
  
  BULLET::::- Colombo (herb) ("Frasera carolinensis")
  
  BULLET::::- Dandelion
  
  BULLET::::- Elecampane
  
  BULLET::::- Ginseng
  
  BULLET::::- Goldenseal
  
  BULLET::::- "Grewia asiatica" (Phalsa or Falsa)
  
  BULLET::::- Hops
  
  BULLET::::- Holy thistle
  
  BULLET::::- Juniper berry
  
  BULLET::::- Mint
  