4.4.2006 - Ginger to Ease Nausea
Having recently been reintroduced to the phenomena of almost constant nausea I was happy to do a little research on the topic when I was approached by a young woman (pregnant) with the question "You're the heb woman around here, right?" Well, um, yeah, I guess so... I've read a lot and applied a little so I guess that could make me an herb woman, sure, why not?
Anyway, she's had a lot of trouble with nausea and has a road trip coming up and wondered if there were any herbs she could take to help. I knew that ginger was the big name in anti-nausea but also having blood-thinning qualities I wanted to make sure that it was indeed safe for use while pregnant. So being the research junkie that I am, I promptly went home and looked it up.
Little did I know that there's an entire website dedicated to ways to ease morning sickness! And I quickly found some good information. "Ginger in capsules form 250 mg. three times daily can be beneficial. Ginger has long been associated with alleviating nausea. You can also get the benefit of using ginger by chewing on crystallized ginger or sucking on ginger hard candies." Years ago I used the capsules but ever since discovering the curiously strong ginger flavored altoids I realized I really love the spicy flavor of ginger and have started sucking on ginger candies, ummm good. These are soooo good.
I also found that- "Although ginger may interfere with blood clotting, there have been no scientific or case reports of interactions between ginger and blood-thinning medications." at this University of Maryland Medical Center website.
More on ginger:
Ginger, the underground stem, or rhizome, of the plant Zingiber officinale has been used as a medicine in Asian, Indian, and Arabic herbal traditions since ancient times. In China, for example, ginger has been used to aid digestion and treat stomach upset, diarrhea, and nausea for more than 2,000 years. Since ancient times, ginger has also been used to help treat arthritis, colic, diarrhea, and heart conditions. In addition to these medicinal uses, ginger continues to be valued around the world as an important cooking spice and is believed to help the common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, and even painful menstual periods. Native to Asia where its use as a culinary spice spans at least 4,400 years, ginger grows in fertile, moist, tropical soil.
Today, ginger root is widely used as a digestive aid for mild stomach upset and is commonly recommended by professional herbalists to help prevent or treat nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness, pregnancy, and, sometimes, chemotherapy for cancer (although the latter has not been studied).
Several studies suggest that ginger may be more effective than placebo in reducing symptoms associated with motion sickness.
At least two studies have found that ginger is more effective than placebo in relieving nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy. In a small study including 30 pregnant women with severe vomiting, those who ingested 1 gram of ginger every day for four days reported more relief from vomiting than those who received placebo. In a larger study including 70 pregnant women with nausea and vomiting, those who received a similar dosage of ginger felt less nauseous and experienced fewer vomiting episodes than those who received placebo.
In addition to providing relief from nausea and vomiting, ginger extract has long been used in traditional medical practices to decrease inflammation. In fact, many herbalists today use ginger to help treat health problems associated with inflammation, such as arthritis, bronchitis, and ulcerative colitis
More good stuff about ginger- wholehealthmd.com, gardenweb.com, and prevention.com
Well, I think the next time I'm in town I'll drop by the little coop and pick up some more ginger candies to suck on a couple of times a day. As I mentioned at the outset of this post, I'm oft visited by the nausea monster these days so this little research project was just the reminder I needed.
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