Ginger And Vitamin B6 For Morning Sickness

One study found that ginger and vitamin B6 can relieve expectant mothers of nausea, dry retching and vomitting. 291 women who were less than 16 weeks pregnant and suffered from morning sickness were given either vitamin B6, also called pyridoxine hydrochloride (25mg 3x daily) or ginger (350mg capsule 3x daily). The women found both to be effective in bringing about relief with no major side effects. No birth defects or pregnancy complications resulted.

In another ginger-flavored Thai study, for a 5-month period, 70 women who were up to 17 weeks pregnant, gave consent and were randomized to receive either oral ginger 1 g per day or an identical placebo for 4 days. These expectant mothers graded the severity of their nausea using visual analog scales and recorded the number of vomiting episodes in the previous 24 hours before treatment, and again during 4 consecutive days while taking treatment. The results showed that ginger reduced the number of vomitting episodes and nausea symptoms improved. No adverse effect of ginger on pregnancy outcome was detected.
Source: Caroline Smith et al “A Randomized Controlled Trial of Ginger to Treat Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy” Obstetrics and Gynecology (2004) 103:639-645; Teraporn Vutyavanich et al “Ginger for Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Trial” Obstetrics & Gynecology (2001) 97:577-582

  Subscribe to my RSS feed for regular updates.