The Effect of Ginger on Breast Milk Volume in the Early Postpartum Period: A Randomized, Double-Blind Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: In Thailand, ginger is a popular natural galactagogue among breastfeeding women. However, there has never been evidence to support the effectiveness of ginger in increasing the breast milk volume. OBJECTIVES: To compare breast milk volume on the third and seventh day postpartum between lactating mothers who receive 500 mg dried ginger capsules twice daily with those receiving placebo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized, double-blind controlled trial was conducted. Women who deliver a term baby were randomly assigned to receive dried ginger or placebo for 7 days postpartum. Breast milk volume was measured on third day postpartum using test weight method for a period of 24 hours and on seventh day postpartum using 1 hour milk production. We also compared the third day serum prolactin level between the two groups. RESULTS: Data from 63 women were available for analysis, 30 from the ginger group and 33 from the placebo group. The two groups were similar regarding baseline characteristics. Women in the ginger group have higher milk volume than the placebo group (191.0 ± 71.2 mL/day versus 135.0 ± 61.5 mL/day, p < 0.01). However, the seventh day milk volume in the ginger group does not differ from the placebo group (80.0 ± 58.5 mL versus 112.1 ± 91.6 mL, p = 0.24). The mean serum prolactin levels were similar in both groups (321.5 ± 131.8 ng/L in the ginger group, and 331.4 ± 100.7 ng/L in the placebo group, p = 0.74). No side effect was reported in this study. CONCLUSION: Ginger is a promising natural galactagogue to improve breast milk volume in the immediate postpartum period without any notable side effect.

Development of a modified 100-gram oral glucose tolerance test for diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus and its diagnostic accuracy.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a modified 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (100-g OGTT) for the diagnosis ofgestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in order to reduce the number of values needed for the test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient charts ofpregnant women who completed the 100-g OGT test at the antenatal clinic, Siriraj Hospital between 2005 and 2006 were reviewed. Cases diagnosed with GDM using standard 100-g OGTT were selected. In non-GDM cases, the last 100-g OGTT test was selected. Diagnostic performances of each glucose value and two or three values in various combinations were determined. RESULTS: One thousand seven hundred sixty three women completed GDM diagnosis throughout their pregnancy Four hundred three women had GDM while 1360 subjects were non-GDM. Considering single glucose values, the highest level of accuracy, and the best ROC curve were obtained from the value at 2 hours after glucose ingestion (2-h glucose value) with 93.00% accuracy and the area under the ROC curve of 0.961. The combination of 2-h glucose value with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) showed 93.25% accuracy. FPG combined with 1-h and 2-h glucose values achieved 100% sensitivity with 92% accuracy. CONCLUSION: FPG in combined with 1-h and 2-h glucose values is an interesting alternative for the diagnosis of GDM.