Study: Ginkgo biloba has no effect on Alzheimer’s, dementia
The popular botanical ginkgo biloba does not improve memory nor does it prevent cognitive decline in older people, according to the largest and longest scientific study ever
undertaken to look at the cheap ugg online supplement.
An extract derived from the ginkgo tree, ginkgo biloba has been touted since the 1970s by the supplement industry and others as an aid to improving memory, cognitive impairment,
dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Ginkgo extract has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for more than 500 years, according to the American Botanical Council.
SUPPLEMENTS: DHA gets mixed reviews in memory studies
ALZHEIMER’S INDEX: Video, latest news, what you need to know
BLOG: Living with Alzheimer’s: Handling Christmas
The study finding is “disappointing news,” says Steven DeKosky, dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the study’s senior author. The only positive thing the
researchers found is that ginkgo appears to be safe, he says.
The results are from the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a center of the National Institutes of
Health. The randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study was conducted at six medical centers and involved more than 3,000 people between ages 72 and 96 for seven
years. The report is in today’s Journal of the UGG Classic Cardy Boots American Medical Association.
The first set of results from the study, published last year, found that a twice-daily dose of 120 milligrams of ginkgo biloba extract was not effective in reducing the
incidence of Alzheimer’s dementia or dementia overall.
This new paper looked at the same results to see if ginkgo biloba extract had any effect on cognitive decline in older adults, specifically memory, visual-spatial construction,
language, attention, psychomotor speed and executive function. It found no effect.
“It just continues to show that in properly designed, placebo-controlled studies, we can’t seem to find an effect for ginkgo biloba,” says Lon Schneider, an Alzheimer’s and
gerontology expert at the University of Southern California. The size of this study is larger than all previous ginkgo biloba studies combined, he says.
Douglas MacKay, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a supplement industry trade group, disputes the study’s findings.
“There is a large body of previously published evidence, as well as ongoing trials, which suggest that ginkgo biloba is effective for helping to improve cognitive impairment in
older adults,” he says.
U.S. sales for ginkgo biloba were $99 million in UGG Classic Tall Boots 2008, down 8% from 2007 but
still placing it the 8th most popular herb and botanical that the Nutrition Business Journal tracks.
