# Ginger (Zingiber officinale) reduces acute chemotherapy-induced nausea: a URCC CCOP study of 576 patients

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-ryan-support-care-cancer/  
OnCo record `paper-ryan-support-care-cancer` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one technology page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 21818642 and published in Supportive care in cancer; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Purpose: Despite the widespread use of antiemetics, nausea continues to be reported by over 70% of patients receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: In this double blind, multicenter trial, we randomly assigned 744 cancer patients to four arms: 1) placebo, 2) 0.5 g ginger, 3) 1.0 g ginger, or 4) 1.5 g ginger. Nausea occurrence and severity were assessed at a baseline cycle and the two following cycles during which patients were taking their assigned study medication. All patients received a 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist antiemetic on Day 1 of all cycles. Patients took three capsules of ginger (250 mg) or placebo twice daily for 6 days starting 3 days before the first day of chemotherapy. Patients reported the severity of nausea on a 7-point rating scale ("1" = "Not at all Nauseated" and "7" = "Extremely Nauseated") for Days 1-4 of each cycle. The primary outcomes were to determine the dose and efficacy of ginger at reducing the severity of chemotherapy-induced nausea on Day 1 of chemotherapy.

Results: A total of 576 patients were included in final analysis (91% female, mean age = 53). Mixed model analyses demonstrated that all doses of ginger significantly reduced acute nausea severity compared to placebo on Day 1 of chemotherapy (p = 0.003). The largest reduction in nausea intensity occurred with 0.5 g and 1.0 g of ginger (p = 0.017 and p = 0.036, respectively). Anticipatory nausea was a key factor in acute chemotherapy-induced nausea (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Ginger supplementation at a daily dose of 0.5 g-1.0 g significantly aids in reduction of the severity of acute chemotherapy-induced nausea in adult cancer patients.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 21818642 (DOI 10.1007/s00520-011-1236-3). Matched by DOI alone: one technology page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Supportive care in cancer
- Year: 2012
- DOI: 10.1007/s00520-011-1236-3
- Authors: Ryan JL, Heckler CE, Roscoe JA, et al.
- What it means: One technology page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Support Care Cancer 2012: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1236-3
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21818642/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/21818642

## Connected records

- technologies: [Ginger for chemotherapy nausea](https://onco.cc/technologies/ginger-nausea/)
- journals: [Supportive care in cancer](https://onco.cc/journals/supportive-care-in-cancer/)

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