Motion sickness

6 remedies

Reference, not prescription. Nothing here is medical advice. Herbs can interact with medicines and be dangerous in pregnancy; tell your doctor or pharmacist about anything you take.

Strong evidence

An approved medicine, or consistent good-quality trials and reviews.

Corkwood

Duboisia myoporoides

Strong

Scopolamine, the plant's main alkaloid, is an approved medicine for preventing motion sickness; the US FDA has approved a transdermal scopolamine patch that reaches protective levels in 6–8 hours and lasts up to 72 hours. This evidence is for the purified drug, not the leaf.

Deadly nightshade

Atropa bella-donna

Strong

Scopolamine (hyoscine), a related alkaloid of the nightshade family, reduced motion-sickness nausea compared with placebo in a 2024 meta-analysis of 20 studies (risk ratio 0.35).

Devil's trumpet

Datura metel

Strong

Not the plant but its alkaloid: scopolamine (hyoscine), from Datura and related nightshades, is a licensed medicine; a 1.5 mg transdermal patch lasting 72 hours prevents motion sickness, with efficacy near 90% in controlled trials.

Toloache

Datura inoxia

Strong

Not a use of the plant: scopolamine (hyoscine), a tropane alkaloid of Datura, is an established medicine. A Cochrane review of 14 RCTs (1,025 people) found it more effective than placebo for preventing motion sickness.

Limited evidence

Small or few trials, mixed results, or mainly lab and animal work.

Ginger

Zingiber officinale

Limited

EMA grants well-established use for preventing nausea and vomiting of motion sickness, based on published studies; NCCIH, reviewing the same field, says most studies have not shown ginger to be helpful. The trials are small and mixed.

Traditional use

Long recorded use, essentially untested in clinical trials.

Korean mint

Agastache rugosa

Traditional

Recorded in Chinese use for naupathia (sea sickness).