Abstract: This study investigated the ability of formulation containing Zingiber officinale (ginger) to reverse health changes promoted by unhealthy diet in Wistar rats. Five compounds from the gingerol family and three from the shogaol family were identified in the chromatographic analyzes of the extract. The animals were fed a combination of unhealthy foods, the cafeteria diet, which promoted increases in body weight, hepatocyte nucleus area, total hepatocyte area and liver fat accumulation, as well as reduced hepatic glutathione S-transferase concentration, compared to the control group, which received commercial chow. The treatment with ginger improved all these results, highlighting the reduction of 10% of body weight and 66% of the total area of lipid droplets deposited, compared to the group that received the cafeteria diet. Ginger treatments also attenuated lipid peroxidation, with a mean reduction of 41% in malondialdehyde levels and a mean increase of 222% in glutathione S-transferase activity in the liver. The cafeteria diet and ginger extract did not promote significant changes in glycemic and lipid profile, liver weight and liver enzymes compared to the control group. We suggest that ginger can have beneficial effects on health complications associated with unhealthy diet, such as excessive adiposity, oxidative stress and hepatic injury.

ABSTRACT The dichloromethane extract of Plectranthus ornatus Codd., a tradicional medicinal plant, showed antibiotic activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 0.4 mg.mL-1 and 100 percent of biofilm inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from animals with mastitis infections. Based on these antibacterial activities, in addition to ethnopharmacological reports from healing men and farmers in Brazil, an herbal soap was produced from this active extract and was tested both in vitro and in vivo. In vivo assays conducted on these herbal soaps led to results similar to those previously conducted with the active extract. These results indicated the great potential of this plant for use as an excipient by preparing herbal antibacterial soaps as an alternative veterinary medicine aimed at controlling bovine mastitis infections on small Brazilian farms.