Some Ginger refereces

April 27, 2004

Hi Attilio

> BMJ UK news Tuesday, 27 April 2004: New research has found that

> half a teaspoon of ginger a day early in pregnancy can prevent

> morning sickness. Researchers in Australia tested ginger against

> vitamin B6 as a cure for morning sickness and found it just as

> effective in relieving the nausea, vomiting and dry retching which

> affects up to 75% of pregnant women, mostly in the first three

> months of their pregnancy.

Nice one, Attilio, but see this:

Interventions for nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy.Jewell, D;

Young G. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2003 PP. CD000145. Div

of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Cotham House,

Cotham Hill, Bristol, UK, BS6 6JL. david.jewell

BACKGROUND: Nausea and vomiting are the most common

symptoms experienced in early pregnancy, with nausea affecting

between 70- 85% of women. About half of pregnant women

experience vomiting. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of

different methods of treating nausea and vomiting in early

pregnancy. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane

Pregnancy and Childbirth Group trials register (December 2002)

and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The

Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2002). SELECTION CRITERIA:

Randomised trials of any treatment for nausea and/or vomiting in

early pregnancy. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two

reviewers assessed the trial quality and extracted the data

independently. MAIN RESULTS : 28 trials met the inclusion

criteria. For milder degrees of nausea and vomiting, 21 trials were

included. These trials were of variable quality. Nausea treatments

were: different antihistamine medications, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine),

the combination tablet Debendox (Bendectin), P6 acupressure and

ginger. For hyperemesis gravidarum, seven trials were identified

testing treatments with oral ginger root extract, oral or injected

corticosteroids or injected adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH),

intravenous diazepam and AP. Based on 12 trials, there was an

overall reduction in nausea from anti-emetic medication (odds ratio

0.16, 95% confidence interval 0.08-0.33). REVIEWER'S

CONCLUSIONS: Anti-emetic medication appears to reduce the

frequency of nausea in early pregnancy. There is some evidence of

adverse effects , but there is very little information on effects on

fetal outcomes from randomised controlled trials. Of newer

treatments , pyridoxine (vitamin B6) appears to be more effective in

reducing the severity of nausea. The results from trials of P6

acupressure are equivocal. NO TRIALS OF TREATMENTS FOR

HYPEREMESIS GRAVIDARUM SHOW ANY EVIDENCE OF

BENEFIT. Evidence from observational studies suggests no

evidence of teratogenicity from any of these treatments

ON THE OTHER HAND (for positive references), SEE:

Ginger syrup as an antiemetic in early pregnancy. Keating A,

Chez, RA. Altern Ther Health Med2002 Sep-Oct; 89-91.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of South

Florida, Tampa, USA. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has been used to

ameliorate symptoms of nausea. A beverage containing ginger in a

syrup may be easier to consume than a capsule or solid food.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if ginger syrup mixed in water is an

effective remedy for the relief of nausea and vomiting in the first

trimester of pregnancy. DESIGN: Double-blind, placebo-controlled,

randomized clinical trial. SETTING: Subjects were enrolled from the

University of South Florida department of obstetrics and

gynecology private practice office. PATIENTS: 26 subjects in the

first trimester of pregnancy. INTERVENTION: Subjects ingested 1

tablespoon of commercially prepared study syrup (or placebo) in 4

to 8 ounces of hot or cold water 4 times daily. MAIN OUTCOME

MEASURES: Duration and severity of nausea and vomiting over a 2-

week period measured on a 10-point scale. RESULTS: After 9

days, 10 of the 13 (77%) subjects receiving ginger had at least a 4-

point improvement on the nausea scale. Only 2 of the 10 (20%)

remaining subjects in the placebo group had the same

improvement. Conversely, no woman in the ginger group, but 7

(70%) of the women in the placebo group, had a 2-point or less

improvement on the nausea scale. Eight of the 12 (67%) women in

the ginger group who were vomiting daily at the beginning of the

treatment stopped vomiting by day 6. Only 2 of the 10 (20%)

women in the placebo group who were vomiting stopped by day 6.

CONCLUSION: The ingestion of 1 g of ginger in syrup in a divided

dose daily may be useful in some patients experiencing nausea

and vomiting in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Ginger for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy: randomized , double-

masked, placebo-controlled trial. Vutyavanich T; Kraisarin T;

Ruangsri R. Obstet Gynecol VOL. 97, 2001 Apr, 577-82.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chiang Mai University,

Chiang Mai, Thailand. tvutyava

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of ginger for the

treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. METHODS:

Women with nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, who first attended

an antenatal clinic at or before 17 weeks' gestation, were invited to

participate in the study. During a 5-month period, 70 eligible

women gave consent and were randomized in a double-masked

design to receive either oral ginger 1 g per day or an identical

placebo for 4 days. Subjects graded the severity of their nausea

using visual analog scales and recorded the number of vomiting

episodes in the previous 24 hours before treatment, and again

during 4 consecutive days while taking treatment. At a follow-up

visit 7 days later, five-item Likert scales were used to assess the

severity of their symptoms. RESULTS: All participants except

three in the placebo group remained in the study. The visual analog

scores of posttherapy minus baseline nausea decreased

significantly in the ginger group (2.1 +/- 1.9) compared with the

placebo group (0.9 +/- 2.2, P =.014). The number of vomiting

episodes also decreased significantly in the ginger group (1.4 +/-

1.3) compared with the placebo group (0.3 +/- 1.1, P 60.001).

Likert scales showed that 28 of 32 in the ginger group had

improvement in nausea symptoms compared with 10 of 35 in the

placebo group (P 60.001). No adverse effect of ginger on pregnancy

outcome was detected. CONCLUSION: Ginger is effective for

relieving the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy.

Effects of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) on decreasing the

production of inflammatory mediators in sow osteoarthrotic

cartilage explants.Shen CL; Hong KJ; Kim SW. J Med Food 2003

Winter PP. 323-8. Dept of Pathology, Texas Tech University Health

Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA. The herbal remedy

Zingiber officinale (ginger root) has been used for thousands of

years in the Far East to treat inflammatory diseases, including

osteoarthritis. However, the anti-arthritic effect of ginger root has

never been evaluated on osteoarthrotic cartilage of sow. The

objective of this study was to investigate the effects of ginger root

extract (GRE) on the viability and the production of nitric oxide

(NO) and prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) by sow osteoarthrotic

cartilage explants. The cartilage explants (.20 mg/96-well plate)

were grown in Ham's F-12/Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium

supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and antibiotics for 72

hours and depleted for 24 hours. GRE was then added at different

concentrations (0-2,000 microg/mL), and the explants were allowed

to grow for 24 hours. The cell viability was reduced (P60.05) with

GRE >/=500 microg/mL, whereas it was not affected with GRE

60100 microg/mL. In a follow-up experiment, the supernatants of

cartilage explants with GRE (0-500 microg/mL) in the presence of

interleukin-1beta (2 ng/mL), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (1 ng/mL),

and lipopolysaccharides (10 microg/mL) were used to measure NO

and PGE production. Increasing GRE concentration (1-100

microg/mL) reduced (p<.05) NO production by cartilage tissue

explants, and a similar pattern was observed in the production of

PGE(2). The inhibitory effects of GRE on NO and PGE(2)

production by sow osteoarthrotic cartilage explants observed in this

study suggest an important role for GRE as an anti-arthritic agent

in osteoarthrosis in the sow.

Review article: herbal treatment in gastrointestinal and liver disease-

-benefits and dangers.Langmead L; Rampton DS. Aliment

Pharmacol TherVOL. 15, 2001 Sep, 1239-52. Academic

Department of Adult 38 Paediatric Gastroenterology, St.

Bartholomew's 38 the Royal London School of Medicine 38

Dentistry, London, UK. Herbal medicines are now used by up to

50% of the Western population, in a substantial minority of

instances for the treatment or prevention of digestive disorders.

Although most indications for the use of such remedies are

anecdotally or traditionally derived, controlled trials suggest some

benefits for ginger in nausea and vomiting, liquorice extracts in

peptic ulceration, Chinese herbal medicine in irritable bowel

syndrome, opium derivatives in diarrhoea and senna, ispaghula and

sterculia in constipation. Herbal preparations contain many

bioactive compounds with potentially deleterious as well as

beneficial effects. There is clearly a need for greater education of

patients and doctors about herbal therapy, for legislation to control

the quality of herbal preparations, and in particular for further

randomized controlled trials to establish the value and safety of

such preparations in digestive and other disorders.

Comparative efficacy of four Ayurvedic formulations in the treatment

of acne vulgaris: a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled

clinical evaluation. Prakash P; Kulkarni PH. Journal of

Ethnopharmacology

VOL. 49, NO. 3, 1995, 127-132. Acne Clinic, Nanal Hospital, 25

Karve Road, Pune-411 004, India.

82 patients with acne vulgaris were randomised into 5 groups. Four

different Ayurvedic formulations (Sookshma Triphala, Thiostanin,

Shankhabhasma Vati and Sunder Vati) were given orally for 6

weeks, while the remaining group received a placebo. Physical and

clinical investigations were carried out at 2-week intervals. A

significant reduction in lesion count (approx equal to 60%) was

observed in patients receiving Sunder Vati when compared with the

placebo and the other Ayurvedic formulations, which failed to

produce any significant difference from the pretreatment condition.

The drug therapies were well tolerated. Sunder Vati consists of

Holarrhena antidysenterica “H. pubescens¨ (stem bark), Emblica

officinalis “Phyllanthus emblica¨ (fruit), Embelia ribes (fruit) and

Zingiber officinale (rhizome).

Pulse spectrum study on the effect of Sie-Zie-Tang and Radix

Aconiti.Wang WK; Hsu TL; Chiang Y; Wang YYL. American

Journal of VOL. 25, NO. 3-4, 1997, 357-366.

Biophysics Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica,

Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan. Extracts of the Chinese herbal

drug, Sie-Zie-Tang (composed of 3 medicinal plants) and its main

component, Radix Aconiti “Aconitum¨, were injected into rats i.p. to

observe pressure wave spectrum changes at the caudate artery.

Radix Aconiti decreased CO (DC term of the pulse), C5 and C6

(the harmonic proportions of the 5th and the 6th harmonic), but

increased C2 and C3 (the harmonic proportions of the 2nd and the

3rd harmonic) significantly. Sie-Zie-Tang increased C2, C3 and C4

and decreased CO. The decreases of C5 and C6 were small and

not significant. The use of Rhizoma Zingiberis and Radix

Glycyrrhiza in Sie-Zie-Tang reduce the toxic side effects

(arrhythmia or heart failure caused by faster and stronger heart

beat) of Radix Aconiti. In man, low doses of Sie-Zie-Tang tend to

normalize the Fourier components of the pressure wave. Sie-Zie-

Tang, p.o., elevates the harmonic proportion of the harmonic that is

lower than normal, but suppresses the higher one

The traditional Chinese medicine Banxia Houpo Tang improves

swallowing reflex. Iwasaki K; Wang Q; Nakagawa T; Suzuki T;

Sasaki H. Phytomedicine VOL. 6, NO. 2, 1999, 103-106.

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tohoku University, School of

medicine, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan. A marked depression of

swallowing reflex has been found in patients with aspiration

pneumonia. The effects of Banxia Houpo Tang (BHT, Hange

Koboku-To in Japanese), on swallowing reflex among the elderly

was examined. BHT is prepared from Pinellia ternata, Poria cocos

“Macrohyporia extensa¨, Magnolia obovata, Perilla frutescens and

Zingiber officinale. Thirty-two patients, mean age 74.2 plus or

minus 1.7 years who had had at least one episode of aspiration

pneumonia, were divided into 2 groups. Twenty patients took BHT

extracts of 7.5 g/day for 4 weeks, and the other 12 patients took a

placebo. The swallowing reflex was measured by a bolus injection

of 1 ml of distilled water into the pharynx through a nasal catheter.

The reflex was evaluated by the latency time of response, which

was the time from the injection to the onset of swallowing. The

latency of response decreased significantly from 11.6 plus or

minus 3.0 s to 2.6 plus or minus 0.4 s in the group treated with

BHT, while in the other group with placebo it was from 11.0 plus or

minus 4.0 to 10.8 plus or minus 3.6. Depletion of substance P in

the pharynx causes impairments of the swallowing reflex.

Substance P in the saliva of treated patients increased from 9.2

plus or minus 2.5 fmol/ml to 15.0 plus or minus 2.2 fmol/ml after

BHT treatment, while levels were 8.0 plus or minus 4.0 fmol/ml

before and 7.1 plus or minus 3.1 fmol/ml after among the placebo

group (no significant difference). It is suggested that BHT improves

the impaired swallowing reflex and may help to prevent aspiration

pneumonia in the elderly.

Studies on the use of 'Slimax', a Chinese herbal mixture, in the

treatment of human obesity. Ignjatovic V; Ogru E; Heffernan M;

Libinaki R; Lim Y; Ng F. Pharmaceutical BiologyVOL. 38, NO. 1,

2000, 30-35. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,

Monash University, Clayton 3168, Australia. A phytochemical

preparation, containing Hordeum vulgare, Polygonatum multiflorum,

Dimocarpus longan, Ligusticum sinense, Lilium brownii and

Zingiber officinale and known as Slimax, was administered orally to

human volunteers for a 6 week period, using a double-blind

experimental method. Treatment with Slimax resulted in a

significant decrease in parameters such as body weight, waist and

hip circumference, and Body Mass Index (BMI), in all subjects

tested. The basis of action was shown to be through modification of

lipid metabolism, with significant effects on both the accumulation

and the release of lipid from adipose tissue. The experimental

results indicate a great potential for the use of this herbal

preparation in treatment of human obesity.

Best regards,

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April 27, 2004