Some prescription anti-nausea medications have side effects, like making you drowsy, says gastroenterologist Patricia L. Raymond, an assistant professor of clinical internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va. So, the idea of treating nausea with natural ingredients is appealing for many people.

Nausea is a common side effect from migraine, morning sickness, chemotherapy, or even a trip in a car or a boat.

A common ingredient in nausea-fighting lollipops, lozenges and chews is ginger oil. Studies have shown that ginger is helpful for combating nausea.

Scientific literature shows “increasing support” for ginger as a treatment for morning sickness, says Anne Matthews, associate professor of nursing at Dublin City University in Ireland and co-author of a recently updated Cochrane Collection review of 37 trials on natural therapies for pregnancy-related nausea.

However, Lawrence Leung, co-author of a review of ginger research published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine says the candy likely contains smaller amounts of ginger than the amounts in his research, which found ginger effective in morning sickness. The ginger in Dr. Leung’s review were taken as capsules or as a powder in food, and patients took 750 to 2,500 milligrams daily.

Preggie Pops, aimed at relieving morning sickness, and Queasy Pops, popular with chemotherapy patients, are sold at a suggested retail price of $4.50 for 7 lollipops; each ginger-flavored pop contains 62 milligrams of ginger.   wsjhealth.com    8/25/14

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