Herbal Ginger Successfully Treats Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) in Vivo, Scientists Find

By Kyle J. Norton


A polycystic ovarian syndrome is a medical condition characterized by undeveloped follicles clumping on the ovaries that interfere with the function of the normal ovaries resulting in enlarged ovaries, leading to a hormonal disorder that affects between 6 to 10% of women.

According to the statistics, in the US, about 6 to 10% of women suffered from PCOS. 

The causes of PCOS are not identified. However, some researchers suggested that genetic preposition may play a critical role in facilitating the hormone levels and insulin resistance.

Some researchers in the comparison of 80% PCOS prevalent rate in overweight and obesity in women in the US and much lower prevalent rate outside the US suggested that the prevalence and severity of obesity are lower in women with PCOS outside the U.S. probably associated with some environmental factors, such as lifestyle, contribute to development of obesity in PCOS that do not exist in other counties.

Women with PCOS due to hormonal imbalance are associated with a higher risk of infertility.

As of today, treatment of PCOS are medications used mostly to balance the hormones and relieve some of the symptoms, such as acne and weight gain.

Most common symptoms are menstrually related such as irregular period, no period and painful period, insulin resistance, obesity, acne, and male pattern hair growth.

If you experience some of the aforementioned symptoms, please make sure you check with your doctor to rule out the possibility.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) or ginger root, the second superfood used for thousands of years by mankind, is the genus Zingiber, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to Tamil.

The root has been used in traditional and Chinese medicine for the treatment of dyspepsia, gastroparesis, constipation, edema, difficult urination, colic, etc.

Researchers in the urgency to find a natural compound for the treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), compared the effectiveness of ginger with clomiphene on sexual hormones such as Luteinizing hormone (LH), Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen and progesterone in order to treat PCOS effectively with fewer side effects.

The study included 63 adult female rats (170-200 gr) divided randomly into 9 groups as control (not received any interventional substance for 60 and 89 days), sham (were given distilled water and ethyl alcohol intraperitoneally daily for 60 and 89 days), and 7 experimental groups receiving estradiol valerate (PCOS inducing agent, intramuscular) alone and with 100 mg/kg clomiphene or different doses of ginger extract (175 and 350 mg/kg) orally daily for 60 and 89 days.

Clomiphene and ginger extract groups demonstrated significant improvement in hormonal secretion compared to the PCOS-induced group.

Furthermore, clomiphene, compared with the lower dose of ginger extract, had a better improving effect on balancing sexual hormones in PCOS.

Moreover, ginger extract at higher doses has better effects on improving PCOS.

Based on the finding, researchers wrote in the final report, "the long-term administration of clomiphene citrate has some side effects, the use of ginger as a herbal medicine without any side effects at high doses can be an effective and good alternative in improving PCOS".

In order to reveal more information about ginger anti-PCOS property, scientists evaluated the effects of 6-gingerol on the biochemical parameters and ovarian histological improvements in estradiol valerate (EV) induced PCOS rats.

In the study, 36 female Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: control, received normal diet, PCOS control, received 4 mg/kg EV injection for 28 days and two experimental groups, received an EV injection for 28 days and followed by 6-gingerol (200 μg/kg and 400 μg/kg) for 14 days.

Before injection of 6-gingerol, administration of EV led to the increasing body and ovarian weights, abnormality in serum sex steroid profile, decreasing antioxidant activity and stimulating the production of COX-2 gene in the expression of inflammation caused by oxidative stress.

Administration of 6-gingerol particularly the 400 μg/kg dose, markedly attenuated these alterations.

The bioactive compound not only inhibited symptoms of PCOS rats by decreased expression of COX-2, but also restored biochemical parameters to normal and decreased of cysts in the ovaries.

Take all together, ginger processed a high amount of bioactive compounds may be considered a functional alternative for the prevention and treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome, pending to the confirmation of large sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Comparison of the effects of Ginger extract with clomiphene citrate on sex hormones in rats with polycystic ovarian syndrome by Atashpour S1,2, Kargar Jahromi H1,3, Kargar Jahromi Z3, Maleknasab M. (PubMed)
(2) The effects of 6-Gingerol on reproductive improvement, liver functioning and Cyclooxygenase-2 gene expression in estradiol valerate - Induced polycystic ovary syndrome in Wistar rats by Pournaderi PS1, Yaghmaei P2, Khodaei H3, Noormohammadi Z1, Hejazi SH. (PubMed)
(3) Obesity and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome by Susan Sam, MD. (PMC)