Ginger is commonly used in cooking as well as for medicinal purposes. Ginger, also known by its Latin name Zingiber officinale, is often used in Asian cultures as a way to treat nausea or stomachaches usually associated with post surgical symptoms, pregnancy, chemotherapy aftereffects, or motion sickness.

This reason may be why it is served with sushi although it is called Gari instead of ginger when used in this manner besides its original intention as a palate cleanser.” Many American dietary supplements contain ginger for its anti-nausea and vomit relief.

Two types of cell death occurred: apoptosis, in which the cells commit suicide, and autophagy, in which the cells attacke each other or digest themselves.

Lead author and researcher,  the emerging results of their ginger study is a big leap for ovarian cancer research, “Most ovarian cancer patients develop recurrent disease that eventually becomes resistant to standard chemotherapy which is associated with resistance to apoptosis. If ginger can cause autophagic cell death in addition to apoptosis, it may circumvent resistance to conventional chemotherapy.”

As with all preliminary verdicts, there is much more research to be done and dozens more studies to conduct before any final results can be made. The next step is to test these findings on animals within the lab before any human trials can be done. Since ginger has little to no side effects, the upside to it being a cancer treatment is that it is natural and not as harsh as radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery and it can potentially inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer cells as an added bonus.