[8]-Gingerol

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol at a Glance

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol is one of the pungent phenolic ketones of ginger (Zingiber officinale) and a direct homologue of 6-gingerol — the same vanilloid head group and β-hydroxy ketone, but with an aliphatic side chain two CH₂ units longer (C₁₉H₃₀O₄ versus C₁₇H₂₆O₄). 6-gingerol is the dominant and by far the best-studied gingerol; 8-gingerol and its longer sibling 10-gingerol sit alongside it as minor components of the same series ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}.

Where a study has actually resolved the isolate, 8-gingerol shows the profile you would expect of a mid-chain gingerol: antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity intermediate between ^{6Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →}- and 10-gingerol ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}, agonism at the TRPV1 “capsaicin” channel ^{2Reference 2Yin Y et al. · 2019Structural mechanisms underlying activation of TRPV1 channels by pungent compounds in gingersView study →}, and — in cell and animal models only — anticancer ^{4Reference 4Hu SM et al. · 2020Hu SM, et al. (2020). 8-Gingerol regulates colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through the EGFR/STAT/ERK pathway. International Journal of Oncology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814036/View study →} and cardioprotective ^{5,6Reference 5Xue Y et al. · 2021AnimalXue Y, et al. (2021). [8]-Gingerol exerts anti-myocardial ischemic effects in rats via modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34390539/View study →Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →} effects.

The honest headline is that this is a thinly studied minor molecule. It has no clinical trials of its own, essentially all of its efficacy data are preclinical, and the one human dataset that names it is a pharmacokinetic study showing it circulates almost entirely as inactive conjugates ^{3Reference 3Zick SM et al. · 2008Clinical trialPharmacokinetics of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol and conjugate metabolites in healthy human subjectsView study →}. Read it as a homologue of 6-gingerol whose independent evidence is early-stage.

The Gingerol Homologous Series

The point of a separate 8-gingerol page is the homologous series it belongs to. Gingerols share an identical guaiacol (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) head and a 3-oxo, 5-hydroxy backbone; they differ only in the length of the alkyl tail. The bracketed number is a shorthand for that chain: 6-gingerol is the shortest common member, 8-gingerol adds two carbons, and 10-gingerol adds two more ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}.

That single structural variable tracks measurable shifts in activity:

• Antioxidant / radical scavenging. In a head-to-head comparison, potency rose with chain length — 10-gingerol > 8-gingerol > 6-gingerol on both DPPH and superoxide radical assays, with 8-gingerol sitting in the middle (DPPH IC₅₀ ≈ 19 µM vs. ≈ 26 µM for ^{6Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →}- and ≈ 10 µM for 10-gingerol) ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}.
• TRPV1 activation. Structural work on how ginger compounds open TRPV1 attributes much of the binding to van der Waals contacts made by the aliphatic tail; the shorter, hydroxyl-bearing 6-gingerol tail sits less snugly in the pocket, which is the structural basis for longer-tailed homologues engaging the channel at least as effectively ^{2Reference 2Yin Y et al. · 2019Structural mechanisms underlying activation of TRPV1 channels by pungent compounds in gingersView study →}.
• NLRP3 inflammasome. Chain length is not uniformly “longer is better” — in an inflammasome IL-1β assay the gingerols were the weaker class overall and 8-gingerol was not a standout, showing the structure–activity relationship is target-dependent ^{7Reference 7Ho SC et al. · 2018Comparison of inhibitory capacities of 6-, 8- and 10-gingerols/shogaols on the canonical NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1β secretionView study →}.

Because so few papers isolate 8-gingerol, this series relationship is often the most defensible thing to say about it: it behaves like a 6-gingerol with a longer tail, and the properties that scale with tail length scale in the direction its structure predicts.

What It's Used For

The evidence for 8-gingerol is preclinical across the board. What distinguishes the citations below is whether the study genuinely resolved 8-gingerol as an isolate (several did) versus reporting “ginger.”

Evidence by IndicationStrength of support · Beta

Support is an experimental score — weighted by study type (human > animal > in vitro) and volume. A beta, not a validated metric. Every score here is low by design: the data are preclinical, and 8-gingerol is a minor, lightly-studied homologue.

01AntioxidantShaky30%Direct isolate comparison, quantified IC₅₀ (in vitro) ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}

02Anti-inflammatoryShaky26%Isolate comparison ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →} + inflammasome assay where it was weak ^{7Reference 7Ho SC et al. · 2018Comparison of inhibitory capacities of 6-, 8- and 10-gingerols/shogaols on the canonical NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1β secretionView study →}

03CardioprotectiveShaky22%Two rodent isoproterenol models ^{5,6Reference 5Xue Y et al. · 2021AnimalXue Y, et al. (2021). [8]-Gingerol exerts anti-myocardial ischemic effects in rats via modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34390539/View study →Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →}

04AnticancerShaky20%One colorectal-cancer cell study ^{4Reference 4Hu SM et al. · 2020Hu SM, et al. (2020). 8-Gingerol regulates colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through the EGFR/STAT/ERK pathway. International Journal of Oncology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814036/View study →}

Mechanisms

The TRPV1 and antioxidant mechanisms are shared with 6-gingerol and scale with tail length; the cardioprotective and anticancer pathways come from single preclinical studies and should be read as leads, not established actions.

Pharmacokinetics

The one human study that names 8-gingerol is pharmacokinetic, not efficacy. When healthy volunteers took single oral ginger doses, no participant had detectable free ^{6Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →}-, ^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}- or 10-gingerol (or 6-shogaol) in plasma — all circulated essentially entirely as glucuronide and sulfate conjugates, appearing within about an hour and clearing over roughly 1–3-hour half-lives ^{3Reference 3Zick SM et al. · 2008Clinical trialPharmacokinetics of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol and conjugate metabolites in healthy human subjectsView study →}. This “conjugated, not free” pattern — the same limit seen for 6-gingerol and curcumin, whose own poor absorption is famously chased with piperine — means the low-micromolar concentrations at which 8-gingerol is active in vitro are unlikely to be reached as free drug in tissue after eating ginger.

Clinical Trials

There are no clinical trials of isolated 8-gingerol. Human ginger evidence is for whole or standardized rhizome, within which 8-gingerol is a minor constituent; the only human data naming it are pharmacokinetic ^{3Reference 3Zick SM et al. · 2008Clinical trialPharmacokinetics of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol and conjugate metabolites in healthy human subjectsView study →}.

Last checked: July 2026.

Isolate vs. Plant Studies

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol is unusual among ginger constituents in that a meaningful share of its (small) literature does resolve the isolate: the antioxidant/anti-inflammatory comparison ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}, the inflammasome assay ^{7Reference 7Ho SC et al. · 2018Comparison of inhibitory capacities of 6-, 8- and 10-gingerols/shogaols on the canonical NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1β secretionView study →}, the two cardiac studies ^{5,6Reference 5Xue Y et al. · 2021AnimalXue Y, et al. (2021). [8]-Gingerol exerts anti-myocardial ischemic effects in rats via modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34390539/View study →Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →} and the colorectal-cancer study ^{4Reference 4Hu SM et al. · 2020Hu SM, et al. (2020). 8-Gingerol regulates colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through the EGFR/STAT/ERK pathway. International Journal of Oncology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814036/View study →} all tested purified 8-gingerol. That is a real strength — these are not “ginger extract” results mislabelled.

The caveat is the opposite one: none of it is human, and none of it is outcome data. All the isolate work is in vitro or in rodents, while the human efficacy evidence — antiemetic, anti-inflammatory, metabolic — belongs to whole ginger and is dominated by 6-gingerol and the shogaols. 8-gingerol’s own human footprint is a single pharmacokinetic study showing negligible free-drug exposure ^{3Reference 3Zick SM et al. · 2008Clinical trialPharmacokinetics of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol and conjugate metabolites in healthy human subjectsView study →}. So the transferability problem here is not extract-versus-isolate; it is preclinical-versus-clinical, compounded by poor systemic bioavailability.

Prevalence in Nature

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol occurs in the rhizome of ginger (Zingiber officinale) as a minor member of the gingerol homologous series. 6-gingerol is the dominant pungent gingerol; ^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}- and 10-gingerol are consistently reported at lower concentrations ^{1Reference 1Dugasani S et al. · 2010Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaolView study →}. Like the other gingerols it is most abundant in the fresh rhizome and, on drying or heating, dehydrates to the corresponding shogaol (8-shogaol), so dried ginger shifts the balance away from the gingerols.

Reliable quantitative figures for 8-gingerol specifically (as a percentage of dry weight, and how it varies with cultivar, maturity and processing) are not well established in the sources reviewed — a gap noted for a later content-by-source pass rather than guessed at here.

Discovery & Synthesis

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol was not “discovered” as a single event so much as resolved out of the gingerol homologous series. The pungent principles of ginger were clarified by D. W. Connell and M. D. Sutherland in 1969, whose re-examination of gingerol, shogaol and zingerone described ginger’s pungency as arising from a series of S-(+)-gingerols differing in side-chain length rather than a single “gingerol” ^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}. 8-gingerol is the ^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →} member of that series (CAS 23513-08-8; PubChem CID 168114), with the (5S) configuration shared by the natural gingerols.

Manufacture today is essentially isolation from ginger — 8-gingerol is obtained by chromatographic separation of the gingerol fraction for use as an analytical standard and research chemical, rather than by dedicated total synthesis; gingerols can be prepared synthetically (via aldol-type coupling of a vanillin-derived ketone with the appropriate aldehyde), but there is no large-scale synthetic industry for this minor homologue specifically.

Patents: not yet researched.

Toxicity & Safety

^{8Reference 8Connell DW · 1969A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)View study →}-Gingerol carries a low flag. It is a minor constituent of a food (ginger) with a long history of safe culinary and supplemental use, and no isolate-specific toxicity signal has emerged from the preclinical work — the cardiac and cancer studies used it as a protective/anti-proliferative agent ^{4,5,6Reference 4Hu SM et al. · 2020Hu SM, et al. (2020). 8-Gingerol regulates colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through the EGFR/STAT/ERK pathway. International Journal of Oncology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814036/View study →Reference 5Xue Y et al. · 2021AnimalXue Y, et al. (2021). [8]-Gingerol exerts anti-myocardial ischemic effects in rats via modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34390539/View study →Reference 6Xue Y et al. · 2021Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/View study →}. Because dedicated toxicology on the pure homologue is essentially absent, the sensible framing is that its safety travels with ginger’s rather than being independently characterised.

Safety at a Glance

✅ Low / no toxicity

• Minor constituent of a well-tolerated food. Ginger is Generally Recognized as Safe at culinary levels, and no isolate-specific toxicity signal is reported for 8-gingerol.
• Shared gingerol cautions apply by inference. Gingerols as a class have antiplatelet activity, so ordinary caution around anticoagulants/antiplatelets and surgery that applies to ginger extends, in principle, to concentrated gingerols.
• No dedicated toxicology. Repeat-dose, genotoxicity and reproductive data for the isolated molecule are not characterised; safety is inferred from ginger, not demonstrated for 8-gingerol.

Reproductive and developmental data specific to isolated 8-gingerol are not available; pregnancy and lactation decisions belong to the ginger monograph and any product page, where intake is actually decided, not to this molecule page.

Dosage

There is no established human dose for isolated 8-gingerol. It has never been dosed as a stand-alone agent in people; human exposure is entirely as a minor component of whole or standardized ginger (efficacy trials cluster around 0.5–2 g/day of dried rhizome, within which 8-gingerol is a small fraction). The concentrations at which it is active in the preclinical studies above are laboratory figures, not doses. Nothing here is a personal recommendation.

References

1. Dugasani S, et al. (2010). Comparative antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of [6]-gingerol, [8]-gingerol, [10]-gingerol and [6]-shogaol. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19833188/
2. Yin Y, et al. (2019). Structural mechanisms underlying activation of TRPV1 channels by pungent compounds in gingers. British Journal of Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31207668/
3. Zick SM, et al. (2008). Pharmacokinetics of 6-gingerol, 8-gingerol, 10-gingerol and 6-shogaol and conjugate metabolites in healthy human subjects. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18708382/
4. Hu SM, et al. (2020). 8-Gingerol regulates colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through the EGFR/STAT/ERK pathway. International Journal of Oncology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31814036/
5. Xue Y, et al. (2021). [8]-Gingerol exerts anti-myocardial ischemic effects in rats via modulation of the MAPK signaling pathway and L-type Ca²⁺ channels. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34390539/
6. Xue Y, et al. (2021). 8-Gingerol ameliorates myocardial fibrosis by attenuating reactive oxygen species, apoptosis, and autophagy via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34393792/
7. Ho SC, et al. (2018). Comparison of inhibitory capacities of 6-, 8- and 10-gingerols/shogaols on the canonical NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated IL-1β secretion. Molecules. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29466287/
8. Connell DW, Sutherland MD (1969). A re-examination of gingerol, shogaol, and zingerone, the pungent principles of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe). Australian Journal of Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1071/CH9691033

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