Effects of ginger supplementation in individuals with mild-to-moderate joint pain II: joint flexibility, markers of health, quality of life, analgesic use, and side effects
Background Ginger contains gingerols, shogaols, paradols, gingerdiones, and terpenes which have shown to display anti-inflammatory properties and inhibit pain receptors. For this reason, ginger has been marketed as a natural ingredient for joint health.Purpose To determine whether ginger supplementa...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/15502783.2025.2550176 |
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| Summary: | Background Ginger contains gingerols, shogaols, paradols, gingerdiones, and terpenes which have shown to display anti-inflammatory properties and inhibit pain receptors. For this reason, ginger has been marketed as a natural ingredient for joint health.Purpose To determine whether ginger supplementation affects joint flexibility, health markers, and/or perceptions about quality of life (QOL) in individuals with mild-to-moderate joint pain.Methods Thirty men and women (56.0 ± 9.0 years, 164.4 ± 14 cm, 86.5 ± 20.9 kg, 31.0 ± 7.5 kg/m2) with a history of mild-to-severe joint and muscle pain and inflammation participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm, intervention trial. Participants donated fasting blood, completed questionnaires, rated pain in the thighs to standardized pressure, and then completed 3 × 10 repetitions of squats/deep knee bends while holding 30% of body mass on days 0, 30, and 56 of supplementation. Participants repeated tests after 2 days of recovery following each testing session. Blood samples were evaluated for clinical markers of safety. Knee and hip range of motion (ROM) was assessed via goniometry, while low back flexibility was assessed via a sit-and-reach test. The short form health survey version 2 (SF-36) was administered to evaluate participant’s subjective perceptions of QOL. Participants were matched by age, sex, and body mass for double-blind and to ingest 125 mg/d of a placebo or ginger (GingerT3®, Specnova LLC, Tysons Corner, Virginia), standardized to contain 10% total gingerols and no more than 3% total shogaols for 58 days. Data were analyzed using the general linear model (GLM) analysis of variance with repeated measures, mean changes from baseline with 95% confidence intervals, and chi-squared analysis.Results Knee ROM tended to be higher in the ginger group (p = 0.063, ηp2 = 0.118) and at the end of the study (Day 56: 20.8 ° [−1.6, 43.2], p = 0.068; Day 58: 9.4 ° [−1.9, 20.7], p = 0.10). No significant interaction effects were observed in sit-and-reach results (p = 0.798, ηp2 = 0.013). Eosinophil values tended to increase over time in the ginger group (p = 0.009, ηp2 = 0.130), with significantly higher eosinophil levels observed after 58 days (p = 0.05), although still within normal ranges. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) ratio and total cholesterol:HDL ratio tended to increase over time in the ginger group after 56 days of supplementation with differences observed between groups in cholesterol (22.1 mg/dL [−4.3, 48.3], p = 0.096), LDL cholesterol (25.3 mg/dl [0.1, 50.6], p = 0.049), non-HDL cholesterol (26.5 mg/dL [−1.1, 53.7], p = 0.060), and the LDL:HDL ratio (0.64 [−.05, 1.3], p = 0.068), in part because baseline values were generally higher in the ginger group. However, values were well within normal limits for healthy individuals. When evaluating changes from baseline, the difference in the LDL:HDL ratio was the only significant difference between groups (0.37 [0.004, 0.73], p = 0.048), while the ratio of CHL:HDL tended to be higher (0.40 [−0.03, 0.83], p = 0.067) with ginger supplementation. Pairwise comparisons revealed that fasting blood glucose values were lower in the ginger group after 56 (−11.5 mg/dL [−25.1, 2.0], p = 0.092) and 58 (−13.8 mg/dL [−26.1, −1.6], p = 0.028) days. All blood values remained within normal clinical ranges. Chi-squared analysis of the SF-36 QOL responses revealed significant differences between group ratings of health compared to 1 year ago, including reducing the volume of time allocated to work and other activities, experiencing bodily pain over the last 4 weeks, feeling full of life, and anticipating their health to worsen. Perceptions tended to differ between groups when asked to rate whether health limits lifting of carrying of groceries, physical health results in accomplishing less than they would like, physical health limiting the kind of work/activities, cutting down on time spent on work or other activities, and feeling nervous, happy, tired, healthy as anybody, and that health was excellent. A total of 73.3% participants in the placebo group reported using rescue doses of analgesics, while 46.7% participants in the ginger group reported taking analgesics. However, the chi-squared analysis did not reveal significant differences in the number of participants reporting the use of rescue doses of analgesics during baseline testing (χ2 p = 0.195), after 4 weeks (χ2 p = 0.232), and after 8 weeks of supplementation (χ2 p = 0.713). Participants typically rated side effects as infrequent (1–2 times/week) and of minimal to slight severity. However, there was some evidence that participants in the ginger group reported more frequent and severe headaches, heart palpitations, and nervousness.Conclusion Ginger supplementation appears to be well tolerated and have some favorable effects on knee ROM, markers of health and perceptions about QOL and may reduce use of over-the-counter analgesics in individuals with mild-to-moderate joint pain. Registered clinical trial #ISRCTN74292348. |
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| ISSN: | 1550-2783 |