[Paddlewise] Ginger and the high seas

G'Day Craig and Paddlewise,

Someone asked for references on sea sickness and ginger. I was running some
literature searches at work and near days end so what the heck did a quick
run. Here's what turned up: two directly relevant research articles and a
review. Two studies  isn't much to judge a technique. However, taken with the
review and many other articles on the efficacy of ginger for treating nausea,
it supports what you and many of us have found, at least as far as throwing up
and cold sweats are concerned.

Are you sitting comfortably - now imagine you are a volunteer naval cadet or
misguided tourist on the high seas, about to partake of some mysterious
medications: -

EXTRACTS FROM REFERENCE 1
"In a double-blind randomized placebo trial, the effect of the powdered
rhizome of ginger (Zingiber officinale) was tested on seasickness. Eighty
naval cadets, unaccustomed to sailing in heavy seas reported during voyages on
the high seas, symptoms of seasickness every hour for 4 consecutive hours
after ingestion of 1 g of the drug or placebo."
"Ginger root reduced the tendency to vomiting and cold sweating significantly
better than placebo"
"Remarkably fewer symptoms of nausea and vertigo were reported after ginger
root ingestion, but the difference was not statistically significant

EXTRACTS FROM REFERENCE 3
"The objective of the study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of
seven drugs frequently used for the prevention of seasickness: the drugs were
namely cinnarizine, cinnarizine with domperidone, cyclizine, dimenhydrinate
with caffeine, ginger root, meclozine with caffeine, and scopolamine."
"The setting was in Andenes (Norway) during a time period from July to
September 1992. Subjects were 1741 tourist volunteers who were joining a whale
safari. The main outcome measures were vomiting, malaise (modified Graybiel
criteria), and subjective reports of adverse events."
"Six of the seven medications may be recommended for prevention of
seasickness; scopolamine TTS seems the least attractive."

My but those medical researchers do have fun on the high seas!

REFERENCES BELOW

>From Web of Knowledge

REF1
Title: GINGER ROOT AGAINST SEASICKNESS - A CONTROLLED TRIAL ON THE OPEN SEA
Author(s): GRONTVED, A; BRASK, T; KAMBSKARD, J, et al.
Source: ACTA OTO-LARYNGOLOGICA   Volume: 105   Issue: 1-2   Pages: 45-49
Published: JAN-FEB 1988
Times Cited: 57

REF2
Title: Efficacy of ginger for nausea and vomiting: a systematic review of
randomized clinical trials
Author(s): Ernst, E; Pittler, MH
Source: BRITISH JOURNAL OF ANAESTHESIA   Volume: 84   Issue: 3   Pages:
367-371   Published: MAR 2000
Times Cited: 64

>From PubMed

REF3 (Review)
Comparison of Seven Commonly Used Agents for Prophylaxis of Seasickness.
Schmid R, Schick T, Steffen R, Tschopp A, Wilk T.
J Travel Med. 1994 Dec 1;1(4):203-206.


All the best, PeterO
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