Studies conducted on various properties of ginger showed that it has parasympathetic activity and can stimulate the salivary secretion. This study was aimed to evaluate methanolic ginger extract’s effect on the rate of salivary secretion and xerostomia improvement in patients who underwent the radiotherapy in Ahvaz Golestan hospital in 2014(Southwest of Iran). This double-blind intervention trial was conducted on 40 patients with a history of head and neck radiotherapy. Data collection tools included two questionnaires designed using other similar studies. After the preparation of the capsules (500mg) containing total extract of ginger and placebo, the whole saliva of the patients was measured and they were asked to complete the questionnaire of xerostomia symptoms. Then the capsules randomly were given to the two groups of patients and they were asked to take one capsule every six hours. After two weeks, the whole saliva of patients was measured again and they were asked to respond to questions of the first questionnaire again. Furthermore, patients responded the second questionnaire to assess the effects of the drug on xerostomia symptoms. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The saliva secretion level in the ginger group was significantly higher than in the placebo group (P<0.05). After two weeks, many of the xerostomia symptoms were healed and patients declared that ginger had positive effects on improvement of their problems. Patients also tend to continue for taking ginger. These findings showed that ginger can improve the xerostomia symptoms through increasing the rate of salivary secretion in these patients.
