Ginger has been a go-to remedy for digestive issues for centuries. Photo / 123rf
Question: What’s the science on ginger as a treatment for nausea and other stomach woes, and what is the best way to consume it?
Answer: Ginger has been a go-to remedy for digestive issues for centuries. And it’s still popular today, with supplements that contain ginger ranking among the bestselling dietary supplements in the United States, often beating out those containing green tea and echinacea.
But is ginger really effective at soothing various stomach ailments? And which forms work best? Just a few, relatively small studies have tackled those questions, said Dr Michael Curley, a gastroenterologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. And most of those studies have focused specifically on nausea and vomiting.
Still, Curley said, the limited research we do have suggests that ginger can be safe and effective for treating nausea and vomiting in certain contexts.
Ginger contains two pungent compounds – gingerol and shogaol – that are thought to ease nausea by blocking nausea-related pathways in the gut and brain, effectively stopping “the vomiting centre inside the brain from getting switched on,” said Megan Crichton, a researcher and dietitian who studies ginger at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia.
Some limited evidence also suggests that ginger supplements may ease symptoms by speeding up the rate of stomach emptying, said Keshab Paudel, a pharmacologist and physician who studies ginger at the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in Florida.
Much of the research on ginger and nausea has used supplements containing dried ginger root powder, Crichton said, which has been shown to help ease nausea in people who are pregnant, receiving chemotherapy or coming out of surgery.
In a 2025 review of studies, for instance, Paudel and his colleagues found that pregnant women who consumed between 500 and 1500mg of ginger supplements per day had improved nausea symptoms, but they did not vomit less. And in a 2024 clinical trial of about 100 adults in chemotherapy, Crichton and her colleagues found that when participants consumed 1200mg of ginger root powder per day with food, starting on the day they started chemotherapy and for four days afterward, they experienced less nausea than patients who took a placebo.
There is little research on how ginger may help with more acute cases of nausea, such as those from stomach bugs, hangovers or motion sickness. And little is known about ginger’s effectiveness with other stomach ailments like indigestion or irritable bowel syndrome.
One small study from 2023 did conclude, however, that it could help with symptoms of functional dyspepsia, a type of chronic indigestion. Participants reported less heartburn, upper abdominal pain and burning, and excessive fullness after eating.
Ginger is available in many forms. You can eat it raw or as a spice, drink it in tea or soda, suck on it in a lozenge and swallow it in a capsule. But there is very little data on how the various forms compare when it comes to soothing the stomach.
Dr Joshua Forman, a gastroenterologist at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center, often recommends that his patients with nausea try ginger supplements. They offer more consistent dosing than raw ginger or foods and drinks with ginger in them, he said, and are better tolerated by people who don’t like the taste.
He recommends taking 500mg twice a day to treat nausea resulting from a chronic issue, like morning sickness, or from short-term ailments such as stomach bugs, hangovers and motion sickness, even though there is less research on how well ginger works in those contexts.
It’s possible that other ginger-containing products like ginger-flavoured ales, teas and candies may help ease nausea, but very little research has been conducted on them. And they are often less concentrated than supplements, so you may have to consume more to get the same effect, Crichton said. She found, for instance, that you would need to eat 3.5 ounces of candied ginger – or between two and four typical servings – to get the same amount of ginger as is in a 300mg supplement.
And some ginger-flavoured foods and drinks may not contain much ginger at all. In a 2017 study, Crichton and her colleagues found that two popular ginger teas provided only 0.04 and 0.15mg of ginger per serving. Forman warned that the same could be true of some ginger ales, which might only contain ginger flavouring. “Be careful and read the label,” he said.
Although ginger in any form is generally considered to be safe, Crichton said, people who take medications including blood thinners, immunosuppressants and blood pressure or diabetes drugs should check with a doctor before consuming ginger regularly. Although serious side effects are rare, people may find that they burp more after consuming it.
That said, ginger has few side effects and is supported by some science, Forman said – it’s “a valuable arrow to keep in the therapeutic quiver”.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Melinda Wenner Moyer
©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES