ginger benefits: what the research does and doesn't show

The evidence doesn't support ginger as a cure for anything, and even its best-studied use — nausea — has produced mixed results: some trials found a real difference from placebo, others found none. What follows is what controlled human trials have actually tested, at what doses, and what they found, including the studies that came back negative.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support ginger as a reliable antiemetic across the board — the trial record for nausea is genuinely mixed depending on the cause. It doesn't support any specific milligram amount as "the" effective dose, since the trials below used amounts from 500 mg to 4 grams a day depending on what was being studied. And it doesn't support ginger as a treatment for a diagnosed disease of any kind — knee osteoarthritis, cancer and cardiovascular risk factors are diseases people were studied for below, and nothing here changes that a supplement is not a substitute for their medical treatment.

What the trials found

Nausea and motion sickness. The research here doesn't point one direction. A 2003 crossover trial had 13 people with a history of motion sickness sit in a rotating chair with or without a 1,000–2,000 mg ginger pretreatment; ginger reduced the nausea score, delayed how quickly nausea started, and shortened recovery time compared with placebo. For nausea during cancer treatment, a 2012 trial randomized 576 patients to placebo or 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 grams of ginger a day (in addition to their standard anti-nausea medication) for six days around each chemotherapy cycle; all three ginger doses reduced nausea severity on the first day more than placebo, with the biggest difference at the 0.5 and 1.0 gram doses. A smaller 2016 trial of 119 women with breast cancer, using 500 mg of ginger powder twice daily for three days per cycle, found no meaningful difference in nausea or vomiting scores between ginger and placebo. And for nausea after surgery, a 2004 meta-analysis pooling six trials and 538 patients found ginger lowered the relative risk of postoperative nausea only slightly (RR 0.84, most of the confidence interval crossing no effect), concluding that about 11 people would need to take it for one additional person to avoid the problem — the authors' own conclusion was that ginger isn't a clinically meaningful antiemetic in that setting.

Knee osteoarthritis pain. A six-week randomized trial gave 261 people with knee osteoarthritis either a concentrated combination ginger extract (255 mg twice daily) or placebo. On the main measure — a drop in knee pain while standing — 63% of the ginger group improved versus 50% on placebo, a statistically significant but modest difference. Secondary pain measures moved the same direction. The ginger group also had close to three times as many gastrointestinal side effects as the placebo group (59 versus 21 people), mostly described as mild. This is one extract, in one population with a diagnosed joint disease, and it isn't a substitute for that condition's medical treatment.

Muscle soreness after exercise. Two trials from the same research group tested different timing. In one, 34 and 40 healthy adults took 2 grams a day of raw or heat-treated ginger for 11 days before an arm exercise designed to cause soreness; both forms produced a similar reduction in next-day muscle pain (roughly 23–25%) compared with placebo, with no added benefit from heat-treating the ginger. In an earlier trial by the same lab, 27 people took a single 2-gram dose of ginger 24 or 48 hours after the same kind of exercise; that single, later dose had no measurable effect on pain, swelling or strength within 45 minutes, though the group that took it earlier (24 hours post-exercise) did report less pain the next day. Timing and repeated dosing, not a single dose taken any time, is what distinguished the positive result from the null one.

Menstrual pain. A 2015 meta-analysis pooled four placebo-controlled trials of ginger powder, 750–2,000 mg a day, taken during the first three to four days of a menstrual cycle. Combined, pain scores on a standard visual scale dropped significantly more with ginger than placebo. The authors rated most of the underlying trials low-to-moderate risk of bias, which is a reasonable-quality body of evidence for a supplement, though it's still a small number of pooled trials rather than one large one.

Digestion. A 2008 trial gave 24 healthy volunteers 1,200 mg of ginger or placebo before a test meal and measured stomach emptying with ultrasound. Ginger sped up how quickly the stomach emptied and increased the frequency of stomach contractions, without changing reported digestive symptoms one way or the other. That's a measurable effect on digestive mechanics in healthy people — not a trial in anyone with a diagnosed digestive condition, and not a symptom-relief finding.

Metabolic markers. A 2026 systematic review pooled 41 randomized trials of ginger supplementation and found, on average, lower levels for fasting blood sugar, insulin, HbA1c, triglycerides and LDL in the ginger groups than placebo, along with higher HDL and a systolic blood pressure about 2.7 mmHg lower — with larger effects in trials that enrolled people who already had a metabolic condition. Doses and durations varied widely across the 41 trials and aren't broken out individually in the summary, so there's no single amount to point to, and a pooled average across a mixed set of trials is weaker evidence than one well-designed trial at a fixed dose. It's also a reason ginger can matter for people on diabetes or blood pressure medication — see ginger and medications: what to check.

Questions people ask

Is ginger good for a cold?

Ginger has a long history of traditional use for colds, but we found no controlled human trial testing ginger against a placebo for cold symptoms specifically. That's an absence of evidence, not a finding either way.

Is ginger good for digestion?

One trial in healthy volunteers found 1,200 mg of ginger sped up stomach emptying without changing reported digestive symptoms. That's a measurable mechanical effect, not a trial showing relief of a digestive condition.

Is ginger good for kidneys?

We found no clinical trial testing ginger for kidney function or kidney health. If you have kidney disease, that's a reason to talk to a doctor before adding any supplement, not a question this page can answer either way.

Is ginger good for vertigo or motion sickness?

A small 2003 trial found ginger reduced nausea and delayed its onset when people were deliberately made dizzy in a rotating chair, at 1,000–2,000 mg taken beforehand. That's the closest research evidence to "vertigo," though it tested motion-induced nausea specifically, not vertigo from an inner-ear or neurological cause.

Is ginger good for hair?

We found no controlled human trial testing ginger, applied to the scalp or taken as a supplement, for hair growth or hair health. Marketing claims for ginger hair products aren't backed by the kind of research covered on this page.

Is ginger good for weight loss?

None of the trials above measured weight change as an outcome, and we didn't find a trial testing ginger specifically for that purpose. The metabolic-marker review above looked at blood sugar and lipids, not body weight.

Is ginger good for dogs?

All of the research on this page is in humans. Ginger's effects and safe amounts in dogs are a separate veterinary question — ask a vet rather than applying human trial doses to a pet.

When to talk to a doctor

Ginger is not a treatment for cancer, knee osteoarthritis, a metabolic condition or any other diagnosed disease, and nothing above should replace an evaluation, medication or treatment plan a doctor recommends for one of those. If nausea, joint pain or another symptom is persistent or severe, that's worth raising with a doctor directly rather than working through a supplement first.

Related reading: what is ginger, how much ginger should you take a day, and ginger side effects.