[blparent] Ginger for morning sickness?

[Veronica Smith]

Ginger for Morning Sickness
Two of the symptoms that are associated with pregnancy are nausea and
vomiting. This
condition can cause temporary disability and it has been observed with
employed women
that have as much as 25% of nauseous pregnant women require time off from
work.
The exact cause of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy is still unknown. A
wide
variety of treatments are used, but due to the potential harmful effects to
the fetus,
use of drugs is limited.
Ginger has been suggested as an alternative treatment to control nausea and
vomiting,
but data on its efficacy are limited. In one study, ginger was found to be
superior
to dimenhydrinate, a medicine commonly used in reducing motion sickness. In
another
study, ginger was found to significantly reduce postoperative sickness. To
determine
the effectiveness of ginger for the treatment of nausea and vomiting of
pregnancy,
this study was conducted.
Included in the study were pregnant women with nausea and vomiting who first
attended
a clinic at or before 17 weeks of gestation. During a five-month period, 70
eligible
Thai women gave consent and were randomized to receive orally one-gram per
day of
either ginger or an identical placebo over a four-day period. Subjects used
a visual
analog scale to grade the severity of their nausea and recorded the number
of vomiting
episodes in the previous 24 hours before treatment, and again during the
four consecutive
days while taking treatment. At a follow-up visit seven days later,
five-item Likert
scales were used to measure the severity of their symptoms.
The median change in nausea scores was significantly greater in the ginger
group
compared to the placebo group. After four days of treatment the ginger group
had
significantly less vomiting episodes than the placebo group. The overall
subjective
report of their symptoms revealed that the ginger group reported a greater
improvement
with their symptoms than the placebo group. In addition to symptoms, the
authors
noted that there were no adverse affects related to full-term delivery.
Vutyavanich T, Kraisarin T, Ruangsri R. Ginger for nausea and vomiting in
pregnancy:
Randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial.
Obstetrics and Gynecology 2001:97(4), pp. 577-582.