Dr Janet Schloss is the Clinical Research Fellow at the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, Southern Cross University. Janet is an accomplished researcher with extensive experience in coordinating clinical trials and conducting research. In addition to her academic career, Janet is a practicing clinical nutritionist and naturopath with over 23 years’ experience.

Following the completion of her doctorate in 2015, Janet has focused her research on supporting people who have cancer through studying the use of complementary medicines to assist side effects of cancer treatments.

Janet has completed a number of ground-breaking studies, been involved as the chief investigator for over 20 trials and has over 70 publications, and now focuses a lot of her research on medicinal cannabis and supplements to assist chronic diseases.

Presentation: Ginger (6-Shogaol’s) for Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS)

Shogaols are biologically active constituents of ginger which have a chemical structure similar to gingerols. The most common constituent is 6-Shogaol which has been shown to be a promising anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory agent that also possesses strong hepatoprotective effects.A pilot clinical trial was conducted in two Sydney Haematological centres. Thirty adult patients with diagnosed Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) were enrolled and received 1 tablet (equal to 20mg of ginger standardised to 20% 6-shogaol) for 24 weeks.The results of this trial indicate that a ginger extract (6-Shogaol) at a dose of 20mg daily may assist in reducing disease progression and improve haematological parameters. Considering this cohort is elderly with comorbidities, this trial indicates that 6-shogaol can be taken safely in this cohort without extra burden on the participants.