Interventions
The participants were allocated into intervention and control groups via a randomized block procedure of size 2, stratified on age, gender, and FBS categories. The study statistician produced the random sequence with STATA 16 software. For eight weeks, patients in the ginger group took four capsules containing 2000 mg of ginger powder daily (Goldaroo, Co. Isfahan, Iran), whereas those in the placebo group had four placebo capsules containing starch. The ginger powder was weighed and packed into 500 mg capsules, whereas the placebo starch was packed into capsules with the same size, color, and odor as the ginger powder. The research executive and patients were unaware of the composition of the pills to maintain the study double-blind and assigning participants to interventions was done by someone other than the the research executive. All participants had laboratory blood tests at baseline and after the eight weeks following a 12- to 14-h fast. 7 mL of blood was taken and stored at room temperature (20–25C) for 20 min before hemodialysis. The samples were centrifuged at 2000 g for 10 min after clotting; serum samples were divided into tiny aliquots and stored at –70C until use.