Last night, I was dreadfully sick with some kind of stomach bug that left me unable to hold down anything and everything, including plain old water. The nice lady at the health center told me to sip ginger ale, as it would probably calm my stomach down. I did notice that the few sips if Canada Dry I took were the one thing that didn’t make another appearence within an hour.
In fact, ever since I was a little bugger, whenever I was sick mom would break out the ginger ale. What gives? Why is ginger ale so good for upset stomachs?
Geez, I dunno, but I’ve been getting that same advice from my mom since I was a wee lad. However, it’s not foolproof. I recall a time or two when I was vomiting everything up, including Ginger Ale. I remember being aghast at that, “I threw up the Ginger Ale!?”
Ginger has long been touted as having good effects on calming the stomach (what came to my mind was Laura Ingalls Wilder’s description of giving Pa et al “ginger water” to help the hard working menfolk drink on hot days when they were working). But who knows - the Greeks touted mint-water, and mint in general, as being the cure-all’s for stomach dyspepsia and nausea. My mother claimed milk and crackers (which never worked). Others claim “flat” 7-Up will do the trick, and some carbonated 7-Up. YMMV.
I read something that said ginger had an enzyme (sp?) that makes you digest your food faster. I don’t know if this is true, but I know that ginger pills (available at healthfood stores) are wonderful in controlling nausea from motion sickness.
Plain Coca-cola is also nice to drink if you have an upset stomach. My mother always gave it to me when I was ill as a child.
One more thing, Green Tea does wonders for queasiness. If I feel ill, I sip it and usually feel much better within 15 minutes!
The pediatrician advised that any drink with sugar and carbonation would work, but ginger has a reputation for being anti-nausea ingredient. Diet stuff won’t work.
I’m not sure of the reasoning why ginger ale works, but my mom always gave me some when I was sick. I have been told that any clear soda (like 7-Up or Sprite) will do the same thing. For me, only ginger ale will do the trick though.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I wouldn’t want to be a test subject for those Consumer Reports nausea studies! How much would you need to be paid to drink ginger ale and get spun around until you make sick?
As for the topic, I can attest to the efficacy of ginger ale. A nurse in my school infirmary gave me ginger ale once and it really helped me out. I drink it all of the time when I’m feeling queasy, especially when I’m on an airplane. Of course I don’t know the science behind the whole thing – might just be a placebo.
It’s definitely the ginger - ginger snaps, candied ginger and ginger tea also work.
The problem is getting something with enough actual ginger in it. Some commercial ginger ales/cookies don’t really have enough ginger to make a difference. OTOH, it’s a good excuse to have some.
The best I ever found was Jamaican Dry ginger ale that I found in Jamaica. It not only cured the bout of motion sickness queasiness but the headache that went along with it.