The plant version of ginger has many studied health benefits, including helping with nausea, headaches and menstrual cramps and even improving blood sugar balance.
So people might assume ginger ale also can be helpful and even healthy. Unfortunately, most such beliefs aren’t supported by research.
“Ginger ale is not considered to be good for you,” says Lisa Young, an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University who is the author of “Finally Full, Finally Slim.”
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink that has ginger’s distinct taste and is sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners. It usually contains preservatives, caramel coloring and high-fructose corn syrup as well. The ginger taste is added with either artificial flavoring or comes from real ginger root.
“The basic process of creating ginger ale with real ginger involves only a few steps,” says Jen Messer, a nutrition consultant and registered dietitian: extracting the ginger from fresh ginger root by washing, peeling and crushing the plant, then steeping it in hot water “to release its aromatic compounds.”
It’s then sweetened, followed by a carbonation process through natural fermentation or by artificially adding carbon dioxide gas. Finally, additional flavors and ingredients are added.
Artificially flavored ginger ale has no health benefits.
Ginger ale flavored by real ginger root is “not typically viewed as a healthy food option [but] can potentially provide some health benefits,” though to a lesser degree than real ginger root, Messer says — such as helping with nausea, indigestion and pain relief.
Even when real ginger root is used in ginger ale, the beverage still contains “high levels of sugar,” she says.
A 12-ounce can of ginger ale has about 36 grams of added sugar — nearly three-quarters of what a person should have in a day, based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
And ginger ale is still just pop, which studies have linked to an increased risk of obesity.
Yet some people swear it can help with an upset stomach. Messer says that, in rare varieties of ginger ale made through natural fermentation, there might be some such “potential health benefits due to the presence of beneficial bacteria and yeasts.”
But she says it’s mostly a myth that the fizzy bubbles of carbonated pop can alleviate an upset stomach.
“If ginger ale helps with nausea, it’s only because of the ginger,” Young says.
“To enjoy the potential health benefits of ginger, consuming fresh ginger root or ginger powder may be a more reliable and beneficial option,” Messer says.
For those who like ginger’s distinctive flavors, she recommends “ginger tea or adding ground ginger to smoothies and other drinks.”
Read more at usatoday.com.
