The Norwegian Food Safety Authority warns pregnant women and women planning to become pregnant to avoid ginger supplements and ginger-containing shots.

Will Chu of Nutra reports the warning comes after the Danish Technical University (DTU) and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration carried out a new risk assessment that found a higher abortion risk in animal studies.

In the report, the DTU said the results did not exclude the possibility that large ginger quantities could also increase this risk in humans.

“The DTU Food Institute concludes that in many cases ginger root ingestion from a single ginger shot will be larger (up to 20-23 grams (g) per day) than the fresh or dried amount typically eaten in the diet. ​

“Experiments in rats indicate that ginger can affect the normal foetal development,”​ says the report​​, dated 21 December 2018.

 “The studies conducted so far in humans did not investigate whether ginger can have a harmful effect early in pregnancy. Animal studies suggest that it may be a particularly sensitive period. ​

“There is a small safety margin between the daily dose linked to harmful effects during pregnancy in rats and the amount of ginger that can be consumed with one ginger shot,”​ the report continues.

Along with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health assessed the Danish report, supporting its conclusions and issuing the warning against taking ginger shots and supplements with ginger.