Being Pregnant
New Study: Ginger Doesn’t Really Help With Morning Sickness
Did ginger help your morning sickness?
The first piece of advice I received when I discovered I was pregnant was this: stock up on ginger snap cookies– ginger really helps with morning sickness.
Ginger pills, fresh ginger root, ginger cookies – ginger in all its forms has been touted for years as a morning sickness remedy. Now researchers suspect it may not be as helpful as originally thought.
When researchers recently analyzed the data on ginger as a treatment for nausea in early pregnancy, the results were not convincing. Last year scientists pooled data from randomized trials of ginger and other common remedies for morning sickness. They focused on women in their first 20 weks of pregnancy, when, as we know all to well, vomiting is most common.
What they found is surprising. While ginger can be helpful in some instances, evidence of its effectiveness was “limited and not consistent”.
Remember though, that’s just testing ginger’s effectiveness against morning sickness. It’s still thought to be helpful for people suffering nausea caused by other conditions like sea sickness or chemotherapy although scientists don’t have an explanation as to why.
I tried ginger and my near constant “morning” sickness didn’t let up at all. Have you used it? Did it help?
Image: flickr.com/Rakka
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6 Comments
Jessica commented on Apr 28 11 at 11:06 amIt helped me! I drank incredibly strong ginger tea, and while it didn’t take anything away, it did help take the edge off. That, and the Sea Bands, were pretty much my only tools for staying sane those first couple months.
MonicaBielanko commented on Apr 28 11 at 11:13 amDo you think it REALLY helped or it kind of turned into a placebo because you were expecting it to help and everyone told you it would help. Know what I mean?
Megan commented on Apr 28 11 at 12:28 pmI went to see an Ayurvedic practitioner last year and found that because my main dosha is Pitta (or fire), I should stay away from spicy foods. I always wondered why ginger never helped me, and I guess this is why. I relied on chamomile tea, mint tea and cinnamon (which is considered a sweet spice) to help with my nausea early on. I also chew papaya enzyme tablets like crazy!
Emily commented on Apr 28 11 at 3:22 pmThank you! I’m 23 weeks, and still battling morning sickness. Ginger doesn’t help me at all.
Leah commented on Apr 28 11 at 3:35 pmI found that ginger ale with real ginger in it did help me when I was feeling sick. I don’t think it was a placebo effect, because I tried other remedies, including sea bands, that didn’t work for me at all even though other people said they were helpful for them.
Angela M commented on Apr 29 11 at 5:19 pmyeah, I’m with Leah. I think different things help different people. The Canada Dry ginger ale helped me (I’m guessing b/c of the REAL ginger b/c Seagrams and others DID NOT help). Also, those sea bands did NOTHING for me either. But I know they do help some women. I think when you’re feeling that ill you should try EVERYTHING you can. Something may help! We can’t discount ginger for all, b/c it may help some. :)
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