About Ginger

Ginger, also called African ginger, Jamaican ginger, or zingiber officinale, has been used in Asian cultures to help digestion for the last 2000 years.  Its most common use is to help with nausea. Recently, a small amount of evidence suggests that ginger is effective in improving arthritis and heart disease (Source:http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ginger-000246.htm). It is often included in dietary supplements because of claims that ginger stimulates cell activity.

Clinical Studies: Ginger and Weight Loss

This was a near fruitless search. One study showed reduced body weight in mice fed a high-fat diet and ginger solution compared with mice not given the ginger solution (Source: Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, 2005, 125(2), 213-217). The effect was thought to occur because absorption of fat was inhibited in the intestines. However, a study of a dietary supplement (Dose=300 mg) containing rhubarb, ginger, astragulus, red sage, and turmeric, together with gallic acid, resulted in an opposite finding (Source: Journal of Medicinal Food, 2007, 10(1), 184-188):

The [supplement dose] at all concentrations was well tolerated, but was ineffective in causing weight loss or in suppressing food intake.

No study of ginger by itself and weight loss in humans could be found. The Mayo Clinic states that more study is needed to know ginger’s effect on weight loss Source:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ginger/NS_patient-ginger).

So can ginger help you lose weight? 

Results are inconclusive.  Since existing studies of mice say yes, but trials in humans say no, this review has to remain neutral.