Ginger May Ease Post-Chemotherapy Nausea
Friday June 19, 2009
About 70 percent of people undergoing chemotherapy experience severe stomach upset. But taking ginger supplements could help reduce post-chemotherapy nausea, according to a new study.
Researchers instructed 644 cancer patients to take either a placebo or a ginger supplement three days prior to chemotherapy and three days following their treatment. All patients also took standard anti-vomiting medication. After analyzing the patients' post-chemotherapy nausea levels, the study's authors determined that those taking ginger had at least a 40 percent reduction in nausea.
Ginger may help relieve other stomach troubles, including motion sickness and morning sickness. Shown to deliver considerable anti-inflammatory benefits, the herb might also help quell some forms of chronic pain, as well as menstrual cramps.
Comments
By running an article like this, you are indirectly promoting the use of chemotherapy itself. If you do feel that chemotherapy is an effective “treatment” for cancer, then you should at least call this “integrative” medicine, because there is nothing alternative about it.
Using a plant to cure a symptom of a medical screw-up is not alternative, it’s mainstream. Curing side-effects of drugs (chemo) with more drugs is about as mainstream as it gets.
Using the plant to eliminate the symptoms of a stomach bug, or pregnancy-related nausea would be alternative medicine. This is because neither causes are a long-term problem, or something which needs to be ‘cured’.