A recent randomised controlled trial has found that supplementing 1500mg per day of ginger can alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly constipation, nausea, bloating and abdominal pain, in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The findings of this study indicated that ginger supplementation for 12 weeks statistically significantly reduced the frequency and severity of nausea and constipation as well as the severity of bloating.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of autoimmune origin. Communication between the brain and the body is disrupted, causing persistent disability and low quality of life. Added to this burden, recent evidence has shown that gastrointestinal symptoms are common amongst these patients. This disease has four clinical course patterns, with RRMS being the most prevalent. Gastrointestinal symptoms affect more than 80% of individuals with RRMS. This investigation was conducted because ginger (Zingiber officinale) is widely known for its gastrointestinal relieving properties.
The study was a 12-week double-blind parallel randomised controlled trial with a three-week run-in period during which the patients were requested to avoid consuming ginger and its products and to maintain their usual physical activity and dietary intake. Fifty-two eligible patients were randomly assigned to the ginger and placebo groups, with 26 patients in each group. The intervention group received 500mg ginger, three times a day, along with main meals. In comparison with placebo, ginger supplementation resulted in significant or near-significant reductions in the frequency and severity of constipation, nausea, bloating and the severity of abdominal pain.
Consistent with these findings, previous studies have reported that ginger supplementation significantly relieved constipation in patients with hypothyroidism and caused a significant reduction in time to first defecation after caesarean section in women. The mechanism of this beneficial effect may be related to the ability of ginger to increase gastrointestinal motility.
References
Foshati S, Poursadeghfard M, Heidari Z, Amani R. The effects of ginger supplementation on common gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. BMC Complement Med Ther. 2023 Oct 27;23(1):383. doi: 10.1186/s12906-023-04227-x. PMID: 37891539; PMCID: PMC10605938.
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