Ginger & Turmeric Kill Pain

Ginger and turmeric both belong to the Zingiberaceae plant family and both are powerful antiinflammatory herbs. This systematic review and meta-analysis of the Zingiberaceae family–including ginger and turmeric and its active ingredient, curcumin–wanted to see how effective these herbs are for chronic pain. . . .

The systematic review included eighteen studies. Studies that looked at osteoarthritis or arthritis in the knee found that ginger significantly reduces pain compared to a placebo. The review also found ginger to have a similar efficacy to the NSAID diclofenac while causing fewer adverse events. Curcumin or turmeric also significantly reduced the pain of knee osteoarthritis significantly better than did a placebo. It also proved to be as effective as ibuprofen for reducing the pain.

Studies also looked at ginger for the pain of dysmenorrhoea, or painful periods. Ginger reduced both the severity and the duration of the pain significantly better than a placebo. The decrease of pain brought about by ginger was comparable to the NSAID’s mefenamic acid and ibuprofen.

When looking at exercise induced pain, ginger is able to decrease muscle soreness better than a placebo. Curcumin significantly reduced exercise related muscle pain.

Turmeric/curcumin also significantly reduced pain from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and pain following surgery.

The meta-analysis included only studies that were double-blind and placebo controlled. Eight studies were included. The meta-analysis included studies on arthritis, IBS, dysmenorrhoea, surgery and exercise and concluded that pain in people who use ginger or turmeric/curcumin is significantly less than people in the control groups.

This study adds more evidence to the already substantial body of evidence that ginger and turmeric/curcumin are safe, effective and powerful antiinflammatory and pain-killing herbs.

Nutr J 2015;14:50