Many of us will know someone who is going through chemotherapy treatment, be it a family member, friend or yourself personally. Unfortunately the process of chemotherapy has a lot of unpleasant side effects, some of the more well known ones are of nauseousness and vomiting.
Recently a trial on ginger (Zingiber officials) took place at the Oncology Unit of Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran. It included patients that were undergoing initial chemotherapy (mostly a combination of the moderately emesis-causing chemotherapy drugs docetaxel, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide) and none were undergoing radiation treatments.
The first dose of ginger (and placebo – to show a control line/level) was given 30 minutes after chemotherapy treatment and continued for 4 days with day 1 being the first day of chemotherapy treatment. The prevalence and severity of nausea, vomiting and retching were measured during the first 6 hours after chemotherapy treatment, during the 6-24 hours after chemotherapy, and during days 2, 3, and 4.
They found that the most significant improvement was with the ginger group with a nearly 60% reduction in symptoms compared to 35% reduction in the placebo group. This reduction in symptoms was mainly experienced in the 6-24 hours after chemotherapy treatment, but shows that this amazing rhizome can help relieve some of the pain that your loved one is going through.
Keller, C. Amy. Effect of Ginger on Acute and Delayed Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting. HerbalGram. Fall 2012;95 (36-37).
Naturalus Organic Ginger Tea is available in 30gm and 60gm packs. Click HERE to get started.
