Ryan, J.L., Heckler, C.E., Roscoe, J.A., Dakhil, S.R., Kirshner, J., Flynn, P.J., … Morrow, G.R. (2012). Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reduces acute chemotherapy-induced nausea: A URCC CCOP study of 576 patients. Supportive Care in Cancer, 20, 1479-1489.
To determine the dose and efficacy of ginger at reducing the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea (CIN) on day one of chemotherapy
Patients were randomly assigned to four arms.
Nausea occurrence and severity were assessed at a baseline cycle and the two following cycles during which patients were taking their assigned study medication. All patients received a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist antiemetic on day one of all cycles. Patients took three capsules of ginger (250 mg) or placebo twice daily for six days starting three days before the first day of chemotherapy. Patients reported the severity of nausea for days 1–4 of each cycle, four times daily. Compliance was determined by pill counts.
This was a multisite study conducted at 23 private practice oncology groups affiliated with the University of Rochester.
This was a phase II/III randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Ginger given at 0.5 g-1.0 g daily, may aid in the reduction of acute-phase CIN in patients receiving standard antiemetics. The ability to clearly interpret results is difficult because of lack of information on chemotherapy agents involved and differences in antiemetic regimens used.
This study showed that ginger significantly reduced nausea in these patients during the acute phase but had no apparent effect on delayed nausea. Studies in the use of ginger have had mixed results, and meta analysis have shown no effect, in contrast to this study. Here, only nausea was examined, which may partially explain differences. Application of these findings is difficult, because the chemotherapy regimens used are not described, so emetogenicity or differences in regimens between groups cannot be evaluated. Also, the antiemetic medications used were varied and subgroup analysis was not done; how this influenced findings is not clear. Even with maximum current pharmacologic management of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, control of nausea, as opposed to vomiting, has remained problematic. Further research in approaches to effectively manage nausea, as well as emesis is needed.