The Ginger Compound Furandodienone Regulates A Nuclear Receptor Involved In Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Ian E Cock^1,2

¹School of Environment and Science, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA.

²Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, Nathan, Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA.

DOI: 10.5530/pc.2025.2.12

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) consists of a group of conditions, which each cause inflammation and swelling of tissues of the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Of these, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common together; these conditions afflict millions of people globally, with the most cases occurring in China and the United States of America.1 The symptoms of IBD include abdominal pain and discomfort, diarrhoea, tiredness and lethargy, rectal bleeding and weight loss. The symptoms may manifest in varying levels of severity, IBD can be severe and can even result in life-threatening complications in some individuals. There is a need to develop safe and effective therapies to treat IBD, and recent attention has focussed on traditional therapies and plant-based remedies. Zingiber officinale Roscoe (family Zingiberarceae) has a long history of therapeutic use, including for the treatment of colds and influenza,² bacterial respiratory infections,³ nausea, arthritis, migraines,⁴ gastrointestinal infections⁵ and hypertension.⁶ Additionally, several preclinical and clinical studies have also investigated the ability of Z. officinale treatment to decrease the severity of IBD symptoms (diarrhoea, abdominal pain).^7,8 Despite those studies, the mechanism of action, and the individual components responsible for those effects are still uncertain.