title: Investigation of the effect of ginger on the lipid levels. A double blind controlled clinical trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effect of fine powder of ginger on lipid level in volunteer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a double blind controlled clinical trial study in 2 cardiac clinics Cardiac Disease Clinic, Babol, north of Iran, between April to May 2004. We randomly divided the patients with hyperlipidemia into 2 groups, treatment group (receiving ginger capsules 3 g/day in 3 divided doses) and placebo group (lactose capsule 3 g/day in 3 divided doses) for 45 days. All subjects with diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, nephrotic syndrome, and alcohol drinking, pregnancy and peptic ulcer were excluded. Lipid concentrations profile before and after treatment was measured by enzymatic assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-five patients in the treatment group and 40 patients in placebo group participated in this study. There was a significant reduce in triglyceride, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), levels of before and after study separately in each group (p<0.05). Mean changes in triglyceride and cholesterol levels of ginger group were significantly higher than placebo group (p<0.05). Mean reduction in LDL level and increase in high density lipoprotein level of ginger group were higher than the placebo group, but in VLDL level of placebo was higher than ginger (p>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show that ginger has a significant lipid lowering effect compared to placebo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. reza_nava@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alizadeh-Navaei
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roozbeh
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saravi
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pouramir
authors.forename: Farzad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jalali
authors.forename: Ali A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Moghadamnia
mesh_terms: D002214:Capsules; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D020939:Zingiber officinale; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000188:drug therapy; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules; D008055:Lipids