The Cardiovascular Pros and Cons of Ginger

Traditional healers have used ginger to treat common ailments for centuries. Now current research has documented many of ginger’s benefits, as well as its side effects.

You might feel motivated to include this aromatic in your next meal after learning how it could support heart health.

How Ginger Benefits Cardiovascular Health

Ginger is an antioxidant with potent anti-inflammatory qualities, according to extensive research. These properties likely underlie ginger’s positive effect on your cardiovascular system.

According to some research, it’s helped people reduce certain risk factors for cardiovascular disease like high triglycerides and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.

A review of literature studying ginger’s effect on type 2 diabetes found that ginger reduced blood sugar scores and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure when compared with control groups. Researchers pointed out that for people with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure in particular can be a risk factor for heart disease.

A study that examined the relationship between ginger use and inflammatory diseases also highlighted that ginger may help prevent not only cardiovascular disease but risk factors like diabetes and obesity.

In addition, the researchers found that 6-shogaol, zingerone, and 8-shogaol — bioactive compounds in ginger — could ease symptoms of arthritis and help prevent lupus.

Ginger and Your Heart: Risks

Ginger can also cause some side effects — notably, it could prolong or increase risk of bleeding for certain people, according to research. In particular, it could augment the effect of antiplatelet medications, which prevent blood clots, or blood thinners like warfarin.

While a small dose — fewer than 4 grams (g) — of ginger likely won’t interact with blood thinners or anticoagulants, it’s a good idea to check with your doctor before using ginger if you’re taking one of these medications.

According to research, taking more than 6 g of ginger at once could cause:

• Prolonged preexisting bleeding
• Digestive upset
• Arrhythmia
• Allergic reactions

More Benefits of Ginger

Ginger’s benefits extend beyond heart health, and you can learn more about them below:

Reduces Nausea

A review of research on ginger’s effect on nausea and vomiting during pregnancy — morning sickness — involving 13 studies and 1,174 participants found that when compared with a placebo, ginger reduced nausea severity, but not vomiting.

Ginger might help relieve nausea in other situations, too. In a review of 23 randomized clinical trials looking at the link between ginger and therapy-induced nausea and vomiting, people who took a daily dose of less than 1 g ginger experienced less vomiting after chemotherapy than the control groups.

Another review of research exploring ginger’s effect on postoperative or post-surgery nausea and vomiting found that while ginger reduced nausea in some cases and had minimal side effects, it didn’t prevent vomiting.

Aids Digestion

Compounds in ginger including gingerols and shogaols can promote digestive health. In particular, ginger could speed stomach emptying and gut motility, soothing digestive pain, according to some research.

To use ginger for digestion, you can slice and boil fresh ginger to make a decoction — similar to a tea — according to the research above. The researchers recommend a dose of 3 to 10 g per day.

Lowers Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress occurs when levels of free radicals in the body become out of balance with antioxidants, leading to cell damage and higher risk of conditions like cancer and neurological disease, notes Cleveland Clinic.

A meta-analysis exploring how ginger works on oxidative stress found evidence that it reduced malondialdehyde (MDA), an oxidative stress biomarker, in the body.

And in an animal study, ginger extract prevented oxidative stress, helped slow cancer cell growth, and promoted apoptosis, or healthy cell death, for rat liver cancer. The researchers concluded that ginger’s antioxidant properties could someday help treat liver cancer in humans, as well.

The Takeaway

Ginger is generally safe for most adults — especially when you’re taking small doses for a short period of time. Still, exercise caution around ginger if you’re taking a blood pressure medication or blood thinner. It’s always a good idea to speak with your healthcare provider before supplementing with any herb, including ginger, and stay vigilant for possible health changes while taking it.