Bioactive potential enhancement of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) through ball-mill assisted micronization

• Ginger ( Zingiber officinale ) is a key ingredient in Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Unani, used for treating inflammation, nausea, and digestive disorders. • Ball mill-assisted micronization as executed is understood to have increased the crystallinity and reduced the particle size as observed from SEM, XRD analysis. The effect on micronization also led to an increase in surface area which influences the interaction and solubility and molecular availability of the compounds corroborated with GC -MS analysis and the enhanced bioactivities including antioxidant and anticancer activity. • Micronized ginger also shows improved antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and introduced bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli . Similarly, antifungal activity was observed post-micronization against Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis . This study investigates the enhanced bioactivity of Indian spice, ginger ( Zingiber officinale ), through ball mill-assisted micronization, drawing parallels to traditional grinding methods. The micronization process significantly increased the surface area and surface irregularities of the ginger powder, resulting in enhanced molecular bioavailability. The resultant micronized ginger powder demonstrated markedly improved antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant activities. Notably, the IC50 value in the MTT assay was reduced from 51± 0.05 µL to 36 ± 0.05 µL, indicating increased anticancer potency against the AGS cell line. The micronized powder also exhibited enhanced antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and introduced novel bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli . Furthermore, the antifungal activity emerged as a significant bioactivity due to micronization. These findings suggest that ball mill-assisted micronization can potentiate new pharmacological properties of spices, reaffirming their therapeutic efficacy in traditional medicine systems and improved bioavailability through culinary practices.