Ginger: Not Just Another Tasty Herb

Herbs bring delight to our world through their variety of aroma, taste, and beautiful hues. Beauty products often have an herbal ingredient such as lavender that enhances the properties and smell of the product. Many herbs have medicinal qualities like the aloe vera plant that is great for burns. We can’t forget cooking with herbs, my personal favorite. One herb in particular that is in the forefront right now for it’s anti-nausea effects, is ginger.

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Ginger: Not Just Another Tasty Herb

Gigi: "Ginger Ale for nausea after surgery is a tried and true remedy."

What is Ginger?

Plant geeks know ginger by it's scientific name, Zingiber officinale, a knotted root called a rhizome. An article by the University of Maryland Medical Center, "Ginger", the herb is reported to have been used for thousands of years in countries like Asia and India. Among the numerous medicinal uses of ginger are: aids in digestion, decreases nausea/stomach upset, arthritis, menstrual pain, arthritis, colic, diarrhea, motion sickness, and heart disease.

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Andrea: "I use ginger in my tea because it helps calm me"

One year, I put candied ginger in a brine for my Thanksgiving turkey and it was the best one I have ever made. We put ginger in our smoothies for it's anti inflammatory and digestion properties. Ginger is widely used for flavoring in food and fragrance in lotions, cosmetics, and soaps. The ingredients that make ginger so valuable is its volatile oils and pungent phenol compounds such as shogaols and gingerols.

Studies

In the article "Ginger May Have Cancer-Fighting Qualities," by Brenda Goodman, MA, she reports that ginger may help prevent colon tumors. Because precancerous lesions and cancerous polyps are a result of increased and chronic inflammation, decreasing that can be beneficial for patients.

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Cathy: " I have 100% ginger candy chews that I use when I get bad nausea, I think it works great."

In the study of 30 patients, they were given 2gm of powdered ginger or a placebo to take daily for a month. The participants were instructed to take the ginger at mealtime and they were not allowed to take another anti-inflammatory such as NSAIDS. Before and after the study, samples of their colon lining was taken to measure eicosanoids (chemical that increases inflammation in the gi tract). The good news was that ginger decreased the "level of inflammatory markers in the gut tissue."

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Julie: "It does seem to work, maybe not take it away completely but does settle the stomach."

Another recent study measured how ginger decreased post-op nausea in patients. M. AdibHajbaghery presents the evidence in the article, "Investigating the Effects of Inhaling Ginger Essence on Post-Nephrectomy Nausea and Vomiting." This randomized controlled study went from April 3rd to October of 2014 in Tehran, Iran. Two drops of the essence of ginger was put on a 2 x 2 and attached to the patient's collar, the drops were refreshed every 30 minutes for two hours.

The results showed a significantly lower level of nausea with those treated with the essence of ginger as compared to the patients who received normal saline instead of ginger. Similarly, the patients also had decreased episodes of vomiting.

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Larry: " I eat pickled ginger on my sushi... not sure what it does for me because if I was nauseous I wouldn't be eating sushi."

Other Benefits

  • When used for motion sickness, ginger is found to lessen cold sweats and vomiting but did not help the nausea.
  • Some pregnant women may benefit from ginger in controlling nausea and vomiting with a dose of 1g a day for no longer than 4 days - It goes without saying, only under a doctor's care.
  • Taking into account ginger's anti-inflammatory properties, it is used in patients with Osteoarthritis. It has been found to aid in pain relief, resulting in the use of fewer pain medications.
  • Ginger decreases pain caused by menstrual cycles. 250 mg of Zintoma or Goldaru four times a day at the beginning of the cycle reduces symptoms in 62% of the patients according to the Medline article "Ginger."
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Kayla: "I give my grandma ginger chews and ginger tea while going through chemo for her nausea."

Interactions

Side effects can include heartburn, stomach discomfort, and diarrhea, along with irritation when applied to skin. Whenever something is used during pregnancy, there is controversy. Ginger has been reported to cause miscarriage during week 12. It is also blamed for affecting fetal sex hormones.

Because it has been known to lower blood sugar, caution should be used with diabetics, adjusting diabetes medication as needed.

The same goes for those on anticoagulants due to the fact that it can decrease blood clotting.

Caution should be taken taking ginger with antihypertensives because it can lower blood pressure.

Conclusion

When taking any herb, looking at what other medications a patient is taking is very important. Very often patients take herbal remedies based on a friend's advice or a television ad without self educating. Encourage your patients to report all the herbal medication they take and how much, using the opportunity to educate them. Herbs have been around for a long time and in the western world are often not respected by the medical profession. As new research surfaces regarding the uses of herbal medicine, it gives credibility to its uses and over time will increasingly be incorporated into western medicine. However, in the United States herbal supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so check with your doctor before taking any herbs.

As for ginger, there is now new studies to demonstrate how it can help decrease nausea and vomiting in post op patients.

If you use ginger in treating post op patients, tell us about it.

References

Thank you for my friends who gave me their personal experience with ginger.

AdibHajbaghery, M. "Complementary Therapies in Medicine." MDLinx. Nov. 12, 2015. 12 November, 2015. Web.

"Ginger." University of Maryland Medical Center. Nd. 15 November, 2015. Web.

Goodman, Brenda. "Ginger May Have Cancer-Fighting Qualities." WebMD Health News. Oct. 11, 2015. 15 November, 2015. Web.

"Ginger." MedlinePlus Trusted Health Information for You. Nd. 15 November, 2015. Web.

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Brenda F. Johnson

About Brenda F. Johnson, MSN

Gastrointestinal Columnist

Brenda F. Johnson, BSN, RN Specialty: 25 years of experience in Gastrointestinal Nursing

60 Articles   326 Posts

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Specializes in Childbirth Educator, Birth Doula.

Thank you for writing such an in-depth look at the benefits of this common home remedy! I actually have much more experience with medicinal herbs than I do in nursing, so I'm always excited to see mention of them in a nursing context. That's also why I noticed that ACOG made mention of ginger in their new guidelines for managing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (Medscape: Medscape Access), so I'm curious to know more about the report that it could lead to miscarriage and interruptions in sex differentiation. Do you have more resources to that affect? How strong is the caution there?

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Awesome article!

The country I'm from medications is not readily available so we rely on herbs. I remember when I had this rash when I was like 5, my mother bathed me in a tub of "bush" tea alongside ginger to cool my skin.

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Specializes in Family practice, emergency.

I love ginger, but I have read research (and I have, I suspect, personally experienced) that ginger can trigger migraines, so I would suggest asking about this in the history before administering. But I do loooooove the taste.

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Specializes in Gastrointestinal Nursing.
chwcbesteph said:
Thank you for writing such an in-depth look at the benefits of this common home remedy! I actually have much more experience with medicinal herbs than I do in nursing, so I'm always excited to see mention of them in a nursing context. That's also why I noticed that ACOG made mention of ginger in their new guidelines for managing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (Medscape: Medscape Access), so I'm curious to know more about the report that it could lead to miscarriage and interruptions in sex differentiation. Do you have more resources to that affect? How strong is the caution there?

I like you love herbs and their role in health. I don't have any further references about ginger's effect on miscarriage. Hope you can find more info on that!

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Wow! Thank you so much for posting this, it is very informative.

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