Care2 Healthy Living/Dr. Michael Greger: Ginger for Nausea, Menstrual Cramps and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Care2 Healthy Living | Ginger for Nausea, Menstrual Cramps and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
669
Ginger for Nausea, Menstrual Cramps and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
669
tweet
0
0
email
46

    By: Dr. Michael Greger
    May 25, 2018

    About Michael
    Follow Michael at @nutrition_facts

Ginger is most famous for its role in preventing and alleviating nausea and vomiting. There are now so many studies that there are reviews of reviews. Just a half teaspoon of powdered ginger “is associated with a 5-fold likelihood of improvement” in morning sickness in early pregnancy. Ginger has also been shown to help with motion sickness, improve postoperative nausea and vomiting

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of ginger for breast cancer chemotherapy, chemo-induced vomiting was relieved in all phases—the acute phase within 24 hours of the chemo, two to three days after, and even before chemo sessions with what’s known as anticipatory vomiting. (After a few chemo treatments, the body knows what’s coming and starts throwing up at just the thought of the next session.) Anticipatory nausea can’t seem to be controlled by drugs, even the fancy new ones that can cost 10,000 times more than ginger, which comes in at about two pennies per dose and may work even better in some ways.
Be healthy. Be loving.

Get daily tips for leading a healthy and compassionate life delivered to your inbox.

Ginger can also help with pain. One-eighth of a teaspoon of powdered ginger, which costs just one penny, was found to work as well as the migraine headache drug Imitrex, without the side effects.

Speaking of pain, my video below discusses that it may also be as effective as ibuprofen for alleviating menstrual cramps. Painful periods are exceedingly common and can sometimes cause severe suffering yet have been “virtually ignored” by pain management researchers and practitioners. Four randomized controlled trials, however, have been published on ginger for menstrual pain, and all four showed significant benefit when ginger was taken during the first few days of periods. Effective doses ranged from about a third of a teaspoon a day to a full teaspoon a day, but because they all seemed to work, one might as well start out with the penny-a-day dose.

As a side benefit, ginger can dramatically reduce heavy flow, which is one of the most common gynecological problems for young women. We know there are pro-inflammatory foods that may contribute to heavy menstrual bleeding, so how about trying an anti-inflammatory food like ginger? Heavy menstrual bleeding is defined as more than a third of a cup (80 milliliters), but all the study subjects started out much higher than that. Just an eighth teaspoon of powdered ginger three times a day starting the day before their period cut their flow in half, and it seemed to work better each month they tried it, providing a highly effective, cheap, easy-to-use, safer treatment for menstrual blood loss and pain.

So, ginger works for migraines and menstrual cramps, but just because it may be effective for many types of pain doesn’t mean it’s necessarily efficacious for all pain. For example, what about intestinal cramps? Is ginger effective for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)? The answer is yes, dropping IBS severity by more than 25 percent. But, so did the placebo. So, the real answer is no—it is not effective for the treatment of IBS, yet “[g]inger is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).” Silly people, don’t they know it doesn’t work any better than a sugar pill? Or, from another perspective, are they smart for using something that offers relief 53 percent of the time and doesn’t risk the adverse effects of some of the drugs with which doctors may harm one person for every three they help?

In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.

PS: If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here and watch my live, year-in-review presentations—2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet, and my latest, 2016: How Not to Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers.
Related on Care2

    Peppermint Aromatherapy for Nausea
    Ginger for Migraines
    Reducing Radiation Damage with Ginger and Lemon Balm

GREAT STORY, RIGHT?
Share it with your friends
669
tweet
0
0
email
CONNECT WITH US

    Facebook 1.1 million followers
    Twitter 560,000 followers
    Pinterest 30,000 followers
    Email Newsletter

EMAIL THE EDITORS
You Might Also Like

    The Ugliest Cars In History The Ugliest Cars In History Top Cars Mag
    How To Play The American Lotteries Online? How To Play The American Lotteries Online? www.24lottos.com

    5 Ways to Green Your Finances 5 Ways to Green Your Finances
    Supreme Court Deals Major Blow to Labor Rights Supreme Court Deals Major Blow to Labor Rights

    Trump Keeps Inventing Conspiracies Since the Media Went With It Last Time Trump Keeps Inventing Conspiracies Since the Media Went With It Last Time
    Start Decluttering Now, So Your Kids Don’t Have To Start Decluttering Now, So Your Kids Don’t Have To

Recommended by
46 comments
Angela AWAY K
Angela AWAY K2 hours ago

noted
SEND
Mona M
Mona M2 hours ago

Great to remove inflammations and fat. Thank you.
SEND
Anne Moran
Anne M2 hours ago

Ginger tea,,, good for everything...
SEND
Julie W
Julie W5 hours ago

I am never without ginger - I use lots in cooking and occasionally make ginger tea.
SEND
Debra Tate
Debra Tate6 hours ago

Thanks
SEND
Beryl L
Beryl L7 hours ago

Thanks
SEND
Ellie M
Ellie M8 hours ago

ty
SEND
Past Member
Past Member 9 hours ago

Save Your Relationship and Get Your Ex Boyfriend/Girlfriend Back!contact: Unityspelltemple@gmail.com is certainly the best spell caster online and his result is 100% guarantee.
My Name Olivia Stephen form Tx,USA. After 12years of marriage, me and my husband has been into one quarrel or the other until he finally left me and moved to California to be with another woman. I felt my life was over and my kids thought they would never see their father again. i tried to be strong just for the kids but i could not control the pains that torments my heart, my heart was filled with sorrows and pains because i was really in love with my husband. Every day and night i think of him and always wish he would come back to me, I was really upset and i needed help, so i searched for help online and I came across a website that suggested that Dr Unity can help get ex back fast. So, I felt I should give him a try. I contacted him and he told me what to do and i did it then he did a Love spell for me. 28 hours later, my husband really called me and told me that he miss me and the kids so much, So Amazing!! So that was how he came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and he apologized for his mistake,and for the pain he caused me and the kids. Then from that day,our Marriage was now stronger than how it were before, All thanks to Dr Unity. he is so powerful and i decided to share my story on the internet that Dr.Unity real and powerful spell caster who i wi
SEND
Kay M
Kay M9 hours ago

thanks.
SEND
Teresa W
Teresa W11 hours ago

ginger is great
SEND
view all 46 comments
TOP STORIES

    1
    Foods You Can Eat to Repel Mosquitoes
    2
    8 Triggers That Could Be the Cause of Your Chronic Daily Headaches
    3
    Ginger for Nausea, Menstrual Cramps and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    4
    The Top 13 Food Sources of Vitamin K
    5
    7 Gluten Myths You Should Stop Believing

ads keep care2 free
learn more ▸
ads keep care2 free
learn more ▸
COMMUNITY SUCCESS!
Victory! Vermont Just Banned Coyote Killing Contests

Animal advocates are celebrating a major victory for wildlife with the passage of a law in...
more
669
tweet
0
0
"The best way to predict the future is to create it!"
- Dennis Gabor
Start A Petition

    Home
    Start a Petition
    Sign Petitions
    Petition Successes

    Care2 Causes
    Healthy Living
    Petition Help

Trending Petition Topics

    Animal Rights
    Children's Rights
    Civil Rights
    Corporate Accountability
    Education

    Environment
    Health
    Human Rights
    International Development
    LGBTQ Rights

    Media, Arts, Culture
    Politics
    Reproductive Rights
    Wildlife
    Women's Rights

Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.
You are our people. You Care. We Care2.

    HomeAbout UsPartnershipsMedia InquiryPrivacy PolicyTerms of ServiceContact UsHelp

Copyright © 2018 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors.All rights reserved
site feedback
site feedback

    log in / Join

    Start A Petition
    Sign Petition
    CARE2 Home
    healthy living
        Food +Recipes
        Health
        Love + Sex
        Green
        News
        Crafts
        Ecards
        Brands forGood
        Nature
        Pets
        Spirit
        Home
        Life
        Family
        Beauty
    causes & news
    Success Stories
    butterfly rewards

New to Care2? Start Here.

    About Us
    Care2 Team Blog