Any woman who has ever been pregnant knows morning sickness—the nausea and the vomiting that comes on suddenly and inescapably. There’s no holding it in. And according to a systematic review with 27 controlled trials, there’s no holding out hope for relief either.
The study concluded that there’s still no relief for morning sickness. Morning sickness symptoms can in fact occur at any time of the day and affect more than half of all women in the early stages of pregnancy. The review looked at pharmaceutical and homeopathic remedies.
"A number of the studies we looked at appeared to show benefits, but in general the results were inconsistent and it was difficult to draw firm conclusions about any one treatment in particular," said lead researcher Dr Anne Matthews, of the School of Nursing at Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland. "We were also unable to obtain much information about whether these treatments are actually making a difference to women's quality of life."
In six studies of acupressure and two of acupuncture, there were no significant differences in benefit compared to control groups. One study of acustimulation did, however, report some improvement over three weeks. There was limited evidence of an effect of ginger in relieving nausea, as there was for vitamin B6, antihistamines and antiemetic (anti-vomiting) drugs including the antenatal drug Debendox.
Consumer Reports Health rates ginger as their "Try First" recommendation and says it has the most supporting evidence as an effective treatment for nausea. Plus, the University of Maryland Medical Center suggests that 1 gram daily of ginger may be safe and effective for pregnancy-associated nausea and vomiting when used for short periods (no longer than 4 days). Several studies have found that ginger is more effective than placebo in relieving nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy.
For women with morning sickness, it's probably worth trying ginger to see if it provides some relief!
