While the safety profile of ginger supplementation requires further investigation, previous
clinical trials report few side-effects, mostly minor in nature (e.g. mild nausea, heartburn).[1]
Of these reported side effects, potentially the most significant is an antiplatelet effect. Two published
case-studies reported adverse symptoms and abnormal platelet aggregation that was
temporally related to recent ingestion of ginger products.[6, 7] In addition, several animal and
in vitro studies have reported ginger as well as individual ginger compounds to have an effect
on platelet aggregation.[8–10] While this action could be beneficial in vascular diseases, it
could potentiate bleeding risk in conditions such as thrombocytopenia or pre-existing platelet
dysfunction. This is particularly relevant in the chemotherapy setting, where therapy-induced
thrombocytopenia is associated with treatment delays, dose reductions, and bleeding events.