Does Ginger Ale Really Help To Calm An Upset Stomach?. When your stomach is turning, nauseous, and just feeling lousy, you’ll likely try anything to calm it down. One of the most common natural remedies for soothing an upset stomach is to sip on ginger ale, despite the fact that there are countless others.
Does it really work? First-time mothers, parents who want to make their sick children feel better, and anyone fighting off a stomach bug all turn to this drink.
For thousands of years, stomach problems have been treated naturally with ginger root. Researchers studied the effectiveness of ginger on nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy and as a side effect of chemotherapy . They discovered that there is little chance of adverse side effects and that it is an efficient and secure treatment option.
This is likely due to the powerful plant compounds found in ginger, some of which increase the speed of digestion to limit the time food spends sitting in the stomach, and others that block the communication of nerves in the gut that lead to nausea and vomiting.
In one small study, 67 pregnant women who complained of nausea and vomiting were given either 1,000 milligrams of ginger or a placebo for 4 days. Eighty-five percent of the women taking ginger had improved symptoms versus only fifty-six percent of the women taking the placebo.
Ginger has been successfully used to treat upset stomachs, but ginger ale probably won’t have the same results. The majority of ginger ales contain very little or no actual ginger while being loaded with additional sugars that may even make your stomachache worse.
In 2018 the popular ginger ale brand, Canada Dry, had a lawsuit filed against them for misleading the public with the label “Made from Real Ginger,” while the actual amount of ginger included was negligible. Many ginger ales only include “natural flavors” and don’t even list ginger in the ingredients.
If you want to try a ginger ale to ease your upset stomach that does include real ginger, try Reed’s Real Ginger Ale or Cape Cod Ginger Ale, both of which have real ginger high in their ingredient list.
If you’d rather avoid the added sugars in soda but still reap the stomach-soothing benefits of ginger, you can try ginger candies, tea, or supplements, but make sure to check the label for “ginger.” When reading the ingredients list, the closer ginger is to the front of the list, the more ginger is included in the product.
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