Do ginger shots work? What the trials back and where they stop

Do ginger shots work, or has a fiery little bottle simply borrowed a reputation that ginger earned elsewhere?

Ginger shots have good evidence behind their main ingredient, chiefly for nausea and osteoarthritis pain. A review of 14 surgical trials found lower nausea scores than placebo, though vomiting didn't change. We found no trial of a ginger shot itself, so that evidence belongs to ginger, and the bottle has to be judged on what's inside.

Key takeaways

• Nausea is ginger's strongest result, repeated across surgery and pregnancy.
• Ginger also eased pain and disability in osteoarthritis trials, and soreness after hard exercise in two smaller ones.
• Ginger speeds up how quickly the stomach empties, which is a different thing from settling symptoms.
• On colds, immunity, and energy, the evidence is still developing, so a ginger shot shouldn't be bought for those.
• We don't sell a pure ginger shot. Our blends pair the gingerols in ginger with raw turmeric root.

Do ginger shots work at all?

The ginger in them has trial evidence behind it for specific jobs, and the drink itself hasn't been put to that test.

A ginger shot is defined as a small, concentrated juice built on pressed ginger root, usually finished in a few sips. Our guide to what a ginger shot is covers the basics. For this question, what matters is the gap between the shot and the research: the trials we looked at gave ginger as a measured dose, often in capsules, against a placebo. So a fair answer has two parts, whether ginger does the job, and whether a shot is a reasonable way to have it.

Do ginger shots work for nausea?

This is where the case is strongest, with one firm limit.

Three separate bodies of evidence reach the same result. After surgery, the 14 trials covering 1,506 patients found lower nausea scores at two, six, and twelve hours. In pregnancy, a review of 13 studies and another of 12 randomised trials found nausea improved against placebo, though vomiting didn't significantly change in any of the three.

The NHS advice on motion sickness suggests trying ginger as a tablet, biscuit, or tea. If you're pregnant, the NHS suggests foods or drinks containing ginger and asks you to check with a pharmacist before taking supplements. Our guide to ginger for nausea goes further.

Does ginger help sore joints?

For osteoarthritis the trials say it may, and that's the next strongest result.

A meta-analysis of five randomised trials, with 593 patients and moderate-quality evidence overall, found ginger reduced both pain and disability compared with placebo. The authors called it modestly efficacious and reasonably safe. People on ginger were also 2.33 times as likely to stop because of side effects, so it doesn't suit everyone. It's an addition to the exercise and care your GP recommends. For the knee specifically, see our guide to turmeric for knee pain.

What about soreness after exercise?

There's early support, from smaller studies.

In two randomised trials of elbow exercise, with 34 and 40 volunteers, 2g of ginger a day for 11 days left pain 25% lower with raw ginger and 23% lower with heated ginger at 24 hours, compared with placebo. A later study of 32 runners concluded ginger possibly has moderate benefits on running soreness, with little likely effect on recovering performance.

Does ginger settle your digestion?

It moves the stomach along, and the symptom evidence is thinner than the folklore.

In a double-blind study of 24 healthy volunteers, 1.2g of ginger in capsules cut the stomach's half-emptying time from 26.7 to 13.1 minutes. A similar study of 11 people with functional dyspepsia also saw faster emptying, while their symptoms stayed the same. So the mechanism is real, and a faster stomach can't be assumed to feel any better. Our guide to wellness shots and a sensitive stomach has more on what helps.

Where does the evidence run out?

Colds, immunity, and energy, where the evidence is still developing.

We looked for trials of ginger against colds and against fatigue and didn't find a body of work to compare with the nausea or joint research. That's a gap in the literature, and any label implying otherwise is filling it with confidence. Our guide to ginger shots for a sore throat explains what does help in winter.

Blood sugar sits somewhere in between. A meta-analysis of 14 trials in 473 overweight adults found ginger supplements lowered fasting glucose, which is promising and comes with a medicines question, covered in our guide to ginger shots and blood sugar.

Would a shot give you what the trials used?

Nobody can say exactly, because a juice and a capsule are different forms, and a percentage on a label doesn't convert neatly into the trials' amounts.

The trials above used measured amounts, such as 1.2g or 2g a day. Drying and heat turn the gingerols in ginger into shogaols, so a fresh juice and a dried capsule aren't chemically the same product either. That doesn't count against a shot. It does mean the fair way to judge one is by what the label declares:

• A stated ginger percentage, which tells you more than a blend name.
• Where ginger sits on the ingredients list.
• Whether you'd happily drink it every day. The soreness trials gave ginger daily for 11 days, so a single shot isn't what they tested.

Who should check first?

Anyone on regular medicines, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding.

Most of what's known about ginger and medicines comes from supplements, and direct evidence on shots is limited. So speak to your GP or pharmacist before making one a daily habit, especially on a blood thinner or diabetes treatment. Our guides to ginger and blood thinners and ginger shot side effects cover the detail.

Where does our range fit?

We don't make a pure ginger shot. Ginger sits alongside raw turmeric root in our blends, so you get both.

Raw Turmeric & Ginger has ginger root and turmeric root at 15% each, in a cold-crushed, whole watermelon-based blend, with added vitamin C and magnesium for mobility support. Our trade-secret BioMax Uptake Blend®, which includes black pepper, is there too, at a 0.1% inclusion. If you're a ginger superfan, Raw Turmeric & XTRA Ginger takes ginger to 30%. For the turmeric half of this question, see are turmeric shots worth it.

The takeaway

So do ginger shots work? For nausea and osteoarthritis pain, the ginger inside them has real support, with soreness a promising third, and for colds or energy the evidence is still developing. No trial has yet tested the shot itself, so read the label and give it time.

For a daily habit that brings ginger together with raw turmeric root, Raw Turmeric & Ginger with breakfast is the easy pick.

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