Ginger in supportive therapy against side effects of oncological treatment: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND

Oncology patients experience many side effects of their cancer treatment, which can affect their daily life. Phytotherapy is commonly used to reduce side effects or to support the treatment. Especially ginger plays a key role in the treatment of nausea and vomiting. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the current scientific status of ginger in supportive therapy against side effects of oncological treatment.

METHODS

In January 2025 a systematic search was conducted searching five electronic databases (Embase, Cochrane, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Medline). Studies concerning the use, effectiveness and potential harm of ginger therapy on cancer patients were included. There was no time limit on the publication date of the studies. 25 publications concerning 24 studies with 2409 patients were included in this systematic review after removing publications that did not meet the inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

The patients were mainly diagnosed with breast cancer. The therapy concepts include ginger-capsules, -powder, -tea, and aromatherapy. Study outcomes were treatment associated symptoms, e.g. chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, xerostomia, patients' nutrition, fatigue, and quality of life. The studies had low to high quality and reported heterogeneous results: some studies reported significant improved symptoms of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, xerostomia, nutrition, fatigue, and quality of life, while other studies did not find any changes concerning these endpoints. Furthermore, two studies found disadvantages of ginger concerning chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

CONCLUSIONS

Ginger can be considered a promising candidate for complementing the supportive therapy against the side effects of cancer treatment of oncological patients. The data on this is still limited due to heterogeneous results and methodical limitations of the included studies.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: As this is a systematic review, clinical trial number is not applicable.