Ginger may improve body composition in Type 2 diabetes patients —Study

Experts conducting a systematic assessment of randomised controlled trials have found that ginger intake may help improve some measures of body composition among adults living with type 2 diabetes, particularly by reducing body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage.

The study, titled “Effects of Ginger Intervention on Anthropometric and Body Composition Indices in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A GRADE-Assessed Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials,” analysed evidence from 12 randomised controlled trials involving 692 participants.

The researchers, led by Ali Keshavarz and colleagues, found that ginger supplementation produced a small but statistically significant reduction in BMI, with an average change of −0.24 kg/m², while body fat percentage fell by 1.44 percentage points.

However, there were no statistically significant changes in overall body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference or waist-to-hip ratio.

The analysis showed that the effect on BMI was particularly evident among participants with a baseline BMI above 29.9 kg/m². The reduction was also more apparent in studies lasting longer than eight weeks and in trials using less than 2g of ginger per day.

However, the researchers cautioned that the BMI finding should be interpreted carefully because the analysis showed substantial variation between studies.

Importantly, a further sensitivity analysis found that when intervention arms combining ginger supplementation with exercise were excluded, the reduction in BMI was no longer statistically significant.

The researchers therefore said the observed reduction in BMI may have been partly influenced by accompanying exercise interventions, making the findings for body fat percentage more consistent.

Ginger supplementation was associated with a 1.44 percentage-point reduction in body fat percentage.

The researchers noted that this finding could be important because changes in adiposity may provide useful information about metabolic health even when total body weight does not change.

The review found that ginger did not significantly alter body weight among people with type 2 diabetes. There were also no significant effects on waist circumference, hip circumference or waist-to-hip ratio.

The 12 trials included in the review were published between 2013 and 2023. Most were conducted in Iran, while one was conducted in Brazil and another in Egypt.

READ ALSO: Health benefits of ginger: Nature’s miracle worker

The interventions involved ginger powder in capsules, tablets or extracts, as well as ginger used alongside exercise. Doses ranged from 1g to 3g per day, while intervention periods lasted between four and 12 weeks.

Placebos containing inert materials such as wheat flour, starch, microcrystalline cellulose, black tea or lactose were used in the trials to maintain blinding.

The researchers assessed the quality of the evidence using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool and the GRADE approach.

Nine studies were judged to have “some concerns” regarding risk of bias, two were assessed as having a high risk of bias, and one was considered to have a low risk of bias.

At the outcome level, the certainty of evidence was rated high for body weight; moderate for BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, hip circumference and body fat percentage; and low for waist circumference.

The researchers said differences in ginger preparations, doses and additional interventions, such as exercise, could have contributed to variations in the findings. The fact that most of the studies were conducted in Iran also limits how confidently the findings can be generalised to other populations.

In addition, inconsistent reporting of adherence, dietary intake and physical activity made it more difficult to determine the extent to which ginger alone was responsible for the observed changes.

The authors said further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about the role of ginger in managing body composition among people with type 2 diabetes.

They recommended larger and longer randomised controlled trials using standardised ginger preparations, doses and follow-up periods to confirm the findings and establish appropriate dosing regimens. They also called for future studies to examine how ginger may interact with lifestyle interventions and standard diabetes treatment.

Overall, the review concluded that ginger supplementation significantly reduced BMI and body fat percentage in adults with type 2 diabetes, while it did not significantly change body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference or waist-to-hip ratio.

For people with type 2 diabetes, reducing excess body fat can be metabolically beneficial even if the number on the weighing scale changes very little. This makes the study’s finding on body fat percentage potentially more clinically meaningful than the absence of a significant reduction in total body weight.

Reducing BMI and body fat is important in people with type 2 diabetes because excess adiposity, particularly excess body fat, is closely linked to insulin resistance and cardiometabolic complications.