Can nausea and vomiting be treated with ginger extract?

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a spice traditionally used to treat indigestion, nausea
and vomiting. Ginger extracts accelerate gastric emptying and stimulate gastric antral
contractions. These effects are mainly due to the presence of gingerols and shogaols and their
activity on cholinergic M receptors and serotonergic 5-HT and 5-HT receptors. Various researches
on this subject have led to controversial results, due to the chemical instability of ginger
extracts and particularly of gingerols, which are readily-oxidizable substances. A systematic review
of double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized studies highlighted the potential efficacy
of ginger on the prevention and treatment of nausea and vomiting of various origins, even
though additional controlled studies are needed.
This review focuses on pregnancy-induced nausea and vomiting and on chemotherapy induced
nausea, and hypothesizes a therapeutic role for ginger extracts in case of side effects, as an alternative
to traditional prokinetic drugs such as domperidone, levosulpiride or metoclopramide.