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Is Ginger Effective for the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

Can ginger help ease symptoms of IBS?

Ginger has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, which brings about its use as a treatment for certain IBS symptoms. Ginger is also generally recommended in your diet, because of a number of potential benefits for digestive health it possesses, some of these benefits include:

  • reducing intestinal cramping
  • preventing indigestion
  • reducing bloating
  • reducing gas

What the research says

At now, there isn’t sufficient research to support the ability of ginger to treat IBS. Due to limited studies on gastrointestinal disorders, most of the evidence is anecdotal or theoretical. However, researchers are continuing to examine ginger’s potential as an IBS treatment.

In a 2014 pilot study, researchers discovered that daily intake of ginger alleviated IBS symptoms in a group of 45 people, but similar results were seen among the group given a placebo.

In the study, researchers assigned the participants to one of three groups. For 28 days, they either consumed:

A placebo (brown sugar)

1 gram of ginger

2 grams of ginger

The researchers found that at least a third of participants in all three groups had at least a 25 percent reduction in symptoms.

However, the people that took a placebo had a higher percentage of people reporting improvement in their symptoms and at the same time also reported more side effects.