Ginger has been used since the ancient times as a cure for gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea, dyspepsia, vomiting, arthritis, muscular aches and fever through its rhizomes; Ginger, also known scientifically as Zingiber Officinale, contains pungent principles, gingerols and shogaols which contain pharmacokinetic properties that determine the metabolites that have been proven through clinical studies to treat nausea and vomiting during expectancy period (Borrelli & Capasso & Aviello & Pittler & Izzo, 2005). In the ancient times especially in Asian cultures, ginger was used to relief pain and treat musculoskeletal disease; the Pharmacotherapeutic agent has been listed in Galen’s Pharmacopoeia in England and acknowledged by Plinius as the an elder for medicinal use. Aim of the Study and the Pharmacotherapeutic Agent The aim of the study is to prove the efficacy of the use of ginger as an adjuvant therapy and also as a Complimentary and Alternative Medicine with relation to nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
The Pharmacotherapeutic agent in this study will be ginger, a herb of family Zingiberaceae mostly grown in tropical regions; this agent is among the safest food in the world and is listed the pharmacopeias of many countries as a safe food and drug (Smith ; Crowther ; Willson ; Hotham ; McMillian, 2004); the European Medicines Agency in their 2012 assessment report detailed the use of ginger as a herbal medicine in preventing nausea and vomiting; the dry powdered rhizomes were plausible for their beneficial use in conditions of nausea and vomiting; this study will examine how the agent, ginger, is developed as an antiemetic for nausea during pregnancy. The agent contains a variety of secondary metabolites in its rhizomes and close to 4% of volatile oils and oleoresin; ginger’s antiemetic traits are acting peripherally within the gastrointestinal tract and this increases the tone of gastric leading to an increase in gastric emptying; the emptying is related to prevention of nausea and vomiting. Ginger alleviates the symptoms of nausea and vomiting; nausea is characterized by having a discomfort felling in the throat and an epigastrum with uncertainty in whether the contents in the stomach will be exploded through the mouth; vomiting on the other hand it is involuntary, you involuntarily puke the contents in your stomach Sample A big percentage of women are affected by nausea and vomiting during the early stage of their pregnancy especially in the first trimester, close to 80% of women experience vomiting and nausea. During the first 12 to 14 weeks of gestation, the vomiting is common and it is normally referred to as morning sickness (Giacosa & Morazzoni & Bombardelli & Riva & Porro & Rondanelli, 2015; clinical researches show that only a few percentage of women experience dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and weight loss leading to hospital admission as a result of nausea and vomiting, 0.2% to 5% only (Vutyavanich & Kraisarin & Ruangsri, 2001).
For at least 30 years the impact of ginger as an antiemetic in nausea and vomiting during pregnancy has been investigated; the identification of ginger as a treatment for such conditions was discovered when a multinational study conducted on the prevalence of herbal medicine in pregnancy; where Europe, North and South America and Australia were involved in the study. Over 9459 women from 23 countries in the regions participating in the study were investigated and 28.9% confirmed the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy to treat nausea and cold; the most common used herbal medicines were Ginger, Cranberry, Valerian and Raspberry (Integrative Medicine Insights, 2016).
In 1991 to 2009, six studies were conducted where 508 subjects were subjected to ginger of about 1000mg a day; three studies administered a dosage of 250mg capsules four times a day, one used 350gm capsule four times a day; another used 250mg syrup four times daily and another used 500mg ginger powder biscuits, five biscuits a day: the use of ginger was put alongside the use of placebo instead of ginger and the results compared (Viljoen & Visser & Koen & Musekiwa, 2014); it was realized that ginger was better in improvement from nausea and vomiting compared to placebo in the meta-analysis demonstration.In another sample, there was the conducting of a comprehensive electronic bibliography database by two researchers who used independent data and trial quality; the researchers employed the use of RevMan5 software for data analysis. In this sample, twelve Randomized Controlled Trials of efficacy of oral administration of ginger as treatment for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy involving 1278 pregnant women showed significantly that ginger improved the symptoms of nausea compared to placebo (Thomson & Corbin & Leung, 2014); ginger compared to placebo did not pose significant risk for spontaneous abortion as was placebo (Sharifzadeh & Kashanian & Koohpayehzadeh & Rezaian & Sheikhansari & Eshraghi, 2017).Findings The samples of experiments conducted on the efficacy of ginger in pregnancy do prove the potential benefits of ginger in the treatment of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy; ginger did not pose any risk to the pregnancy and thus considered as harmless and effective alternative option for women suffering from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. All the tests from the samples including the multi-national sample where herbal medicine usages were conducted in countries and it showed that there are a good percentage of women opting for herbal medicines for treatment of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy and the common herb being ginger; in a randomized study where 12 healthy volunteers taking 1.2g of ginger’s dried rhizomes three times a day; the fear of ginger affecting the platelets were eliminated and ginger was proven to be a side-effects-free herbal for treatment of nausea and pregnancy during treatment.Conclusion Ginger is an ancient herb that is useful as an antiemetic especially during pregnancy when the expectant is experiencing nausea and vomiting; the herb grows naturally especially in the tropical and Asian regions; it is also cultivated and such areas.
Since it is a medicinal herb, it is easily obtained making it an effective and inexpensive treatment agent. The right usage of ginger is essential since over dosage can lead to mild gastrointestinal complications such as hurt-burn and eructation (Matthews ; Haas ; O’Mathúna & Dowswell & Doyle, 2014); earlier fears such as live births, spontaneous abortions, therapeutic abortions, birth weight and gestation age having being different from the women who use clinical medicines as compared to those using herbal medicines such as ginger in treating nausea and vomiting were discarded after a study of 187 women fed with ginger dosage in Toronto were compared to women who used clinical medicines and it was found that there was not significant change. Ginger is a cheap and effective herbal medicine that is effective in the treatment of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (Marx & Kiss & Isenring, 2015).
