Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: Industry-funded study of the week: ginger and joint pain

By Marion Nestle

December 08 2025

Industry-funded study of the week: ginger and joint pain

I learned about this industry-funded study from NutraIngredients, one of a series of industry publications especially careful to disclose sponsorship, this time in the headline.

Specnova’s ginger extract reduces joint pain and inflammation: Study: Low-dose ginger supplementation reduces perceptions of pain, according to new Specnova-funded research published in the journal Nutrients…. Read more

The study: Effects of Ginger Supplementation on Markers of Inflammation and Functional Capacity in Individuals with Mild to Moderate Joint Pain. Nutrients 2025, 17(14), 2365; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17142365

Rationale: “Ginger contains gingerols, shagaols, paradols, gingerdiones, and terpenes, which have been shown to display anti-inflammatory properties and inhibit pain receptors.”

Method: 30 participants with joint pain took either ginger or a placebo for two months.

Results: “There was evidence” that ginger “attenuated perceptions” of pain.

Conclusions: “Ginger supplementation (125 mg/d, providing 12.5 mg/d of gingerols) appears to have some favorable effects on perceptions of pain, functional capacity, and inflammatory markers in men and women experiencing mild to moderate muscle and joint pain.”

Funding: “This research was funded by a grant to Texas A&M University MU (M2203671) from Specnova LLC (Tysons Corner, VA, USA), in collaboration with Increnovo LLC (Whitefish Bay, WI, USA), which served as an independent external consultant to facilitate the planning and completion of the study.”

Comment: Specnova is a dietary supplement company. Mostly, the results did not reach statistical significance, meaning that they could have occurred by chance. Hence, the hedging language. Usually, industry funding exerts its influence primarily in the framing of the research question, and secondarily in putting a positive spin on the results. This study is an example of the latter.

I find ginger to be especially delicious in practically anything edible (ginger ice cream is my favorite). That’s reason enough to enjoy it.

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