Does ginger help with migraine? What the research does and doesn't show

Two placebo-controlled trials have tested ginger for migraine, and they don't point the same direction. A three-month trial found a standardized ginger extract worked no better than placebo at preventing attacks. A separate emergency-room trial found that adding a single dose of the same type of extract to a standard anti-inflammatory injection improved same-day pain response more than adding a placebo did.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support ginger, at any dose tested so far, as a way to prevent migraine attacks — the one trial designed to test that found no difference from placebo over three months. It doesn't support ginger as a replacement for a prescribed migraine medication or acute treatment: the one positive trial only tested ginger added on top of a standard anti-inflammatory injection, not ginger used by itself instead of it. And it doesn't support ginger root tea, brewed at home, as equivalent to either trial — both used a standardized extract capsule with a stated percentage of active compound, not tea.

What the trials found

Prevention. A 2020 double-blind trial randomized 107 adults with episodic migraine, who weren't taking a prophylactic medication, to a standardized dry ginger extract (200 mg, 5% active compound, taken three times a day for 600 mg total) or placebo, for three months. The trial's main measure — the share of people with a 50% drop in migraine attacks — did not differ between the ginger and placebo groups. Days with severe pain, use of pain medication for attacks, and attack duration all decreased over the three months, but by a similar amount in both groups. The trial's own conclusion was that ginger gave no additional benefit over placebo for prevention at that dose.

An acute attack, alongside medication. A separate 2018 trial, run in a hospital emergency room, enrolled 60 adults during an active migraine attack. Everyone received a standard 100 mg ketoprofen injection (an anti-inflammatory used for acute migraine pain in that ER); on top of it, half also received a single 400 mg dose of ginger extract (the same 5%-active type used in the prevention trial) and half received a placebo capsule. The group that got ginger reported a significantly better clinical response at 1, 1.5 and 2 hours after treatment than the group that got the placebo capsule, along with less pain and better functional status at every time point measured. This trial didn't test ginger against the injection — everyone got the injection — so it doesn't say whether ginger alone would do anything for an attack.

Trial	Population	Dose	Finding
2020 RCT, n=107	Adults with episodic migraine, no prophylactic medication	600 mg/day standardized extract, 3 months	No difference from placebo in attack frequency
2018 RCT, n=60	Adults during an active migraine attack, ER setting	400 mg standardized extract, single dose, added to a standard injection	Better same-day pain response than placebo added to the same injection

Questions people ask

Is ginger root good for migraines?

It depends on what "good for" means. For preventing attacks, a three-month trial found no benefit over placebo. For same-day relief during an attack, a smaller trial found a benefit — but only when ginger extract was added to a standard anti-inflammatory injection, not used by itself.

Does ginger root help with migraine?

The two controlled trials on this page give two different answers depending on the question: not for prevention, and only as an add-on to medication for an acute attack, not in place of it.

What dose of ginger works for migraine?

The trials above used 600 mg a day of a standardized, 5%-active dry extract for prevention (which didn't outperform placebo), and a single 400 mg dose of the same standardized extract for an acute attack (which did, as an add-on to medication). Neither trial used ginger root tea, powder or an unstandardized capsule, so those doses don't transfer to this research.

Can ginger prevent migraines?

The one trial designed to answer that question — three months of a standardized extract versus placebo — found no meaningful difference. That's a negative result, not an absence of a study.

When to talk to a doctor

Migraine is a diagnosed neurological condition with its own prescribed treatments, and ginger is not a substitute for one — the acute-attack trial above only tested ginger alongside a standard medication, not instead of it. If migraine attacks are frequent, severe, or changing in pattern, that's a reason to see a doctor about prevention and treatment options, not to try a supplement first.

Related reading: ginger benefits: what the research does and doesn't show, how much ginger should you take a day, and who should not take ginger.