Gingko Biloba Stripped Of Memory Protection Claim

Ginkgo biloba, the popular extract derived from a Chinese tree used as a supplement to protect older people from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia, does not deliver expected results, say U.S. researchers. The results of the $30 million, multi-center study were published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers at the University Of Virginia School Of Medicine took up the study with more than 3,000 seniors aged over 75. The majority of the study participants had normal cognition at baseline and around 500 were classified with mild cognitive impairment.
The study authors concluded that those given 120mg extract of Ginkgo biloba twice daily for six years had no lower chance of developing dementia than those who were put on a placebo. 16% of participants receiving placebo had developed dementia compared with 18% of those randomized to receive G. biloba, the difference being statistically insignificant.
Gingko also did not slow down the rate of progression to memory loss in those patients who were already suffering from mild cognitive impairments at the outset of the study.
As the study used a requisite standardized formulation of G. biloba extract with specified amounts of the active ingredients, the researchers have said that the results of the study can be extended to other G. biloba extracts as well.
Lead investigator Dr. Steven DeKosky, of the University of Pittsburgh, whose team performed The Ginkgo biloba for the Evaluation of Memory (GEM) Study, said he and his colleagues do not advocate the use of ginkgo for preventing dementia.
It was the largest clinical trial ever to gauge the effects of ginkgo biloba (ginkgo) on the occurrence of dementia.
The popularity of ginkgo leaf extracts is such at present that many resort to it hoping to improve memory, to stave off Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, to treat intermittent claudication or leg pain caused by narrowing arteries.
People also use it to cure sexual dysfunction, multiple sclerosis, tinnitus, and such other health conditions. Ginkgo supplements are among the top-selling herbal medications in Europe and the United States. It consistently ranks as the most prescribed medicine in France and Germany.
In view of the present findings, the search must go on for some other medicine to arrest dementia. The dreaded brain disease is caused mainly by Alzheimer’s in older people. At the moment it is incurable, beginning with mild memory loss and leading up to death.