Investigation and comparison of the effect of ginger and sesame oils on resistance against frostbite in military personnel

Investigation of the effect of ginger and sesame oils on resistance against frostbite in military personnel

The study includes double-blinded randomized controlled interventional trials (phase 1). Participants will be randomly allocated into 3 groups (of 20 subjects each) including control, sesame and ginger groups.

The cold-protective effect of topical application of ginger and sesame oils will be investigated on forty-two young men (control, ginger and sesame groups) using cold-water immersion trials (12°C and 5°C water) in the physiology laboratory of Aja University of medical sciences. The study is double-blinded in which neither the researcher nor the participants know what they were getting. The subjects of the oil groups will be asked to rub the oils on their hands up to the wrist and wait for 5 minutes before the immersion. The index finger skin temperature, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate, the beginning of the pain sensation, pain and thermal sensation will be recorded before and immediately after intervention.

Inclusion criteria: male participants aged 18-30 year-old Exclusion criteria: Raynaud’s syndrome; peripheral vascular disease; inflammatory arthritis; heart diseases; high blood pressure; malignancy; previous hand or finger transplantation

The subjects of the ginger and sesame oil groups will be asked to rub the oils on their hands up to the wrist. The control group receives no treatment.

Index finger skin temperature; systolic and diastolic blood pressure; pulse rate; the beginning of the pain sensation; pain sensation; thermal sensation

Allocation sequence will be generated using a computer program. In this software, a code will be assigned to each group (Zingiber oil, Sesame oil and Control) and sample size will be written. Randomization will be done in blocks of three. Since the generated sequence is produced by research assistant, the main researcher is not informed of the assigned codes to the groups. The generated codes will be written on papers, then concealed sequentially inside opaque lookalike containers.

The study is double-blinded in which neither the researcher nor the participants know about the received treatment. The research assistant, who generates the allocation sequence, will conceal the code of related intervention inside opaque lookalike containers. The participants will get into the study (block size 3). The first participant will randomly choose one of the containers. Then, the other two participants will do the same and choose between the left containers. After choosing one of the containers by the participant, research assistant will read the concealed intervention code inside the container. Then, research assistant will give the related intervention to the main researcher to try it on the participant.