efficacy of ginger in patients uncontrolled on standard moderate asthma treatment.

background and purpose: the goal of asthma therapy is to achieve clinical control and near normal lung functions. many patients with moderate persistent asthma fail to achieve this goal with a low dose of inhaled corticosteroid (ïçs) plus long-acting β2 agonist (lâbâ). ïn the present study, we have checked whether another controller medication (in the form of ginger capsule) add on to ïçslow dose + lâbâ helps in achieving the asthma goal or not. materials and methods: thirty two adult asthmatics (17 male and 15 female) completed a 10 week trial consisting of a 1 week single blind run in period, during which placebo (250 mg capsule of lactose 3 times a day) was added to usual treatment (inhaled beclomethasone diproprionate 200 µg/twice daily plus salmeterol 50 µg/twice daily), a 4 week double blind active treatment period in which subjects received ginger (250 mg capsule of powdered ginger 3 times a day) or placebo capsule, a single blind 1 week washout period receiving placebo and a final 4 week double blind cross-over active treatment period. the primary efficacy variable was the forced expiratory volume at 1 second (fëv1) secondary efficacy variables were the peak expiratory flow (pëf) and the asthma control test (âçt) scores. these variables were measured at the completion of each phase, i.e. the end of weeks 1, 5, 6 and 10. statistical comparisons of all variables were made by two-way analysis of variance (ânôvâ) with patient, period, and treatment as fixed factors. p< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results: âll the patients of the ginger group had significant improvement in fëv1 , pëf and âçt scores (p<0.001) at the end of 10 weeks. mean (95% çï) measurements for ginger vs placebo treatment periods were 1.99 vs 1.49 (0.32 to 0.68) l for fëv1, 255.8 vs 205.4 (27.1 to 73.8) l min-1 for pëf and 20.6 vs 17.3 (2.77 to 3.73) for âçt scores. there was a similar frequency of minor adverse effects reported during placebo (13%) and ginger (16%) treatments (p>0.05). çonclusion: powdered ginger rhizome capsule as an add on to inhaled corticosteroid and long-acting β2 agonist is effective in the improvement of fëv1, pëf, and âçt scores of the patients of a moderate type of persistent asthma uncontrolled on standard treatment.