When you’re feeling queasy, you might head to your fridge for a can of ginger ale with the hope that the fizzy drink can ease your nausea and soothe your upset stomach. And there’s good reason for that optimism: Unlike many other folk remedies, ginger has some solid science behind it and “has been used in a lot of different cultures for a very long time” to treat nausea, Dalina Soto, MA, RD, founder of Nutritiously Yours and Your Latina Nutritionist, tells SELF.
But what about ginger ale? Might a can of Schweppes, Canada Dry, or Seagram’s do the same for tummy turbulence? SELF spoke with several experts to find out.
What makes ginger effective for nausea and vomiting?
You might know ginger best as the knobby root-like part of the plant that can be sliced up to add a pungent note to your dinner, but it has many other functions as well. Like Soto said, the herb—which is native to the humid forests of Southeast Asia—has a millennia-long history as a medical treatment in countries like India and China. While it has historically been used to manage a wide range of issues, including arthritis, migraine, high blood pressure, and the common cold, it might be most famous for purportedly easing nausea and vomiting, regardless of whether the cause is surgery, chemotherapy, pregnancy, or motion sickness.
And research backs that up. A 2020 review published in Nutrients analyzed 109 clinical trials and concluded that a majority found ginger beneficial for nausea, vomiting, and other conditions. “Particularly in regards to nausea, you’re seeing some significant effects,” Taylor Wallace, PhD, a food scientist who holds positions at Tufts University and George Washington University, tells SELF.
So what’s behind that benefit? Two types of bioactive compounds are often credited: gingerols, which are primarily found in fresh ginger, and shogaols, which are most abundant in the dried stuff. Both bring an array of pharmacological perks, including antioxidant activity. What’s more, some research suggests they may act directly on receptors in your stomach, which might more directly explain their stomach-soothing properties, Thanh Thanh Nguyen, MS, RDN, a registered dietitian at Mendinground Nutrition, tells SELF. This can “affect what kind of hormones are released and how our digestive system feels overall,” Nguyen says. (The compounds are also largely responsible for ginger’s characteristic “spicy-ish flavor,” she says.)
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