The Effect of Ginger on the Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome is one of the most common functional disorders of the digestive tract which causes a lot of problems for patients. Medicinal plants may decrease symptoms and improve patients` life. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of ginger on the symptoms of IBS. Methods: In this triple blind clinical trial, 64 patients with irritable bowel syndrome referring to Kowsar clinic of Arak city were selected purposively and randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. First, Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) was completed by all patients. Then the intervention group, received one gram of ginger daily and the control group placebo for 4 weeks. At the end of this period, the GSRS was completed again by the patients and the obtained data were compared. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the total score of gastrointestinal symptoms before intervention in the two groups (P=0.026). Therefore, to compare the mean score of the questionnaire after intervention in the two groups, the analysis of covariance was used with controlling the effect of confounding mean score of the pre-treatment questionnaire, which showed that the mean score of the post-treatment questionnaire was significantly different in the two groups (P=0.0001). Conclusion: Given the effect of ginger on improving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, using ginger in these patients is recommended to reduce symptoms.