Ginger as an anticolorectal cancer spice: A systematic review of in vitro to clinical evidence

Abstract

Ginger and its derivatives have been shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of cancer. We undertook a systematic review to answer the question of whether ginger has a role in modifying the biomarkers of cancer in cell culture conditions and on colorectal cancer in randomized clinical trials. We performed a comprehensive search of the literature from Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, and Cochrane database of systematic reviews. At first, all 12 papers studied the effect of ginger or its derivatives on cell culture conditions. The results of cell culture studies show that ginger has a powerful role in inducing apoptosis. In the second part, five studies of clinical trials were analyzed. By analyzing antitumor markers of clinical trials, ginger increased some anticancer markers but performed poorly in inducing some anticancer markers. This systematic review showed that the consumption of ginger extract has the potential to prevent and treat colorectal cancer but this ability is weak.