Efficacy of Ginger for Alleviating the Symptoms of Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.

What this study found

Ginger showed a consistent, statistically significant reduction in primary dysmenorrhea pain, with pooled placebo-controlled analyses favoring ginger. In the pooled placebo-controlled RCTs, pain outcomes were significant across both two-cycle and combined analyses (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.0003), and one-cycle pooling was also significant (P = 0.0003). Individual trials similarly showed lower pain scores with ginger than placebo, such as 4.81 ± 1.70 versus 7.11 ± 1.12 (P < 0.001) and 3.08 ± 1.52 versus 6.95 ± 1.67. Overall, the review concludes that ginger is a promising option for relieving…

Study & population

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials in young women with primary dysmenorrhea, mostly conducted in Iran with one trial from India.

Intervention

Oral ginger powder or ginger rhizome powder, usually given in capsules, was evaluated across trials at total daily doses ranging from 750 to 2000 mg/day.

Key limitation

The evidence base was small and the trial quality was limited, which reduces confidence in the pooled estimate.

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