Galangal 361
plant is used to treat loss of appetite, upper abdominal pain, and sluggish digestion.
It relieves spasms, combats inflammation and has stress reducing properties. In Asia,
this herb is also used for arthritis, diabetes, stomach problems and difficulty in
swallowing. It is especially useful in flatulence, dyspepsia, nausea, vomiting and
sickness of the stomach, being recommended as a remedy for seasickness. It tones up
the tissues and is sometimes prescribed in fever. Galangal is used in cattle medicine,
and the Arabs use it to make their horses fiery. It is included in several compound
preparations. The reddish-brown powder is used as a snuff in catarrh. Young rhizome
is a spice and is used to flavour various dishes in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and
China. In the Indian traditional medicine, Ayurveda, A. galanga (known as ‘Raasna’)
is used in over 62 formulations that are used for curing a variety of ailments. Two of
the related species, A. calcarata and A. officinarum are also used as sources of the
raw drug Raasna.
Antifungal activity of A. galanga was reported by Haraguchi et al. (1996). They
have isolated an antimicrobial diterpene (diterpene 1) and found that his compound
synergistically enhanced the antifungal activity of quercetin and chalcone against
Candida albicans. Its antifugal activity was reversed by unsaturated fatty acids.
Protoplasts of C. albicans were lysed by diterpene 1. These results suggest that the
antifungal activity of this compound is due to a change of membrane permeability
arising from membrane lipid alteration. The ethanolic extract of A. galanga rhizome
exhibited hypolipidemic activity in vitro. The oral administration of the extracts
(20 mg/day) effectively lowered the serum and tissue levels of total cholesterol,
triglycerides, and phospholipids and significantly increased the serum levels of high-
density lipoproteins (HDL) in high cholesterol fed white wistar rats over a period of
four weeks. The study suggests that galangal is useful in various lipid disorders
especially atherosclerosis (Achuthan and Padikkala, 1997). The USDA database lists
387 distinct activities for A. galanga.
Galangin and kaempferol, the flavanols present in the rhizome, are known to
possess tyrosinase-inhibitory activity as well as COX-inhibitory activity. These activities
are probably due to their ability to chelate copper (and also other divalent cations) in
the enzyme. Galangin inhibits monophenolase activity, and both galangin and kaempferol
inhibit diphenolase. Galangin also possesses (so also quercitin, another flavonol
present in the rhizome) antioxidant and radical scavenging activities, and hence can
modulate enzyme activities and suppress the genotoxicity of chemicals (Duke, 2003).
Sharma and Sharma (1977, 1978) found that water soluble fraction of the alcoholic
extract of the plant was active in chronic arthritis in albino rats. Its anti-inflammatory
activity was similar to that of betamethazone. Antihypertensive activity of galangal
was shown by its ability to inhibit angiotension converting enzyme (ACE) by water,
ethanolic and acetone extracts to the level of 29, 42, and 31% respectively (Somanadhan
et al. 1999).
Among the many compounds reported, 1-acetoxychavicol acetate, a component of
newly dried rhizomes, is active against dermatophytes, and together with another
compound, 1-acetoxyeugenol acetate, exhibits anti-tumor activity in mice. The same
compounds isolated from roots showed anti-ulcer activity in rats. Oil shows potential
insecticide property. Galangal root, root oil and root oleoresin are given the regulatory
status ‘generally regarded as safe’ (GRAS) in the USA (Scheffer and Jansen, 1999).
Itokawa et al. (1987) isolated the phenylpropanoids, 1-acetoxychavicol acetate
and 1-acetoxyeugenol acetate, both showing antitumour activity against sarcoma 180
ascites in mice. Sadique et al. (1989) reported that A. galanga extract showed sheep