A daily dose of ginger root appears to downregulate inflammatory eicosanoids in the gastrointestinal tract, and may reduce the risk of colon cancer, according to a recent study by Suzanna Zick, ND, MPH, and her team at the University of Michigan Medical School.
The investigators randomized 30 healthy individuals to take either a placebo or 2 grams per day of a ginger root supplement standardized to 5% gingerols, for a total of 28 days. They obtained mucosal biopsy samples via sigmoidoscopy at baseline and again at the end of the 4-week period.
They observed a statistically significant decrease in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and non-significant trends toward decreases in 12-HETE and 5-HETE, two other markers of inflammation. “It seems that ginger has the potential to decrease eicosanoid levels, perhaps by inhibiting their synthesis from arachidonic acid. Ginger also seemed to be tolerable and safe,” Dr. Zick reported. The study appeared in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Chronic inflammation is thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis of colon cancer, and a surge in PGE2 is one of the early events in the development of this malignancy. The finding that ginger can downregulate inflammation–especially PGE2– suggests that it has a potential role in prevention, or even a place as an adjunct therapy. But Dr. Zick stressed that it is far too soon to draw those conclusions. Her next step is to replicate this study and assess ginger’s effects in people at high-risk for colon cancer.
The trial was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Zick is one of a small but growing number of naturopathic physician-researchers receiving grants from NCI and other branches of the National Institutes of Health.
