RECENT DEVELOPMENT IN THE FORMULATIONS OF GINGER FOR THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS AND AN OVERVIEW TOWARDS THE ACTION ON SARS-COV-2

Ginger or Zingiber officinale, Roscoe of the Zingiberaceae family is a rhizome that is widely found and most consumed in South east Asian countries; also used as a traditional remedy to treat various ailments like nausea, vomiting, pain, arthritis, indigestion, gastro reflux, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, microbes, cancer, inflammation, oxidation, and wounds to name some of its activity which is based on the various chemical constituents present in ginger as it is found to contain more than 400 different compounds which include sugar, protein, and fats. The major phenolic active constituents of ginger are 6-gingerol, 6-shogaol and 6- paradol; which are safe and showing only a few insignificant adversarial effects. Here, this review aims to summarize and discuss the ideas on how ginger is formulated and improve from conventional to novel formulations using novel techniques; to improve the pharmacological, biopharmaceutical and chemical properties of ginger extract and its compounds. Different novel formulations of ginger like a tablet, capsule, powder, cream, gel, transdermal patch, nanoparticles, liposomes and phytosomes along with its therapeutic actions that were developed in recent years. Future aspects in research are suggested for the advances in the novel formulation of ginger using each isolated compound and improving bioavailability, therapeutic effect, and delivery. Also, this article discusses the in silico studies that have been carried out for ginger and its phytochemicals that may be considered as potential agents in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2.