Healthy Fitness Ideas

Stan­dard­ized extracts of Ginkgo biloba, pro­duced from the leaves of the Ginkgo tree, have been pro­moted for more than 30 years as an effec­tive way to improve mem­ory, and avoid age-related cog­ni­tive impair­ment, demen­tia and Alzheimer’s dis­ease.  Ginkgo extract has been uti­lized in tra­di­tional Chi­nese med­i­cine (TCM) for more than 500 years, accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Botan­i­cal Coun­cil.  But new research ques­tions the ben­e­fits of tak­ing Ginkgo biloba extract. A research study pub­lished in the Decem­ber 2009 issue of the Jour­nal of the Amer­i­can Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion found that the pop­u­lar herbal sup­ple­ment Ginkgo biloba was inef­fec­tive in pre­vent­ing demen­tia or Alzheimer’s dis­ease. The study, titled “Ginkgo Eval­u­a­tion of Mem­ory trial,” fol­lowed a group of more than 3,000 healthy par­tic­i­pants aged 75 or older. They peri­od­i­cally com­pleted demen­tia assess­ments over a period of about six years, to mea­sure whether a daily dose of 240 mgs. of Ginkgo biloba extract could delay or pre­vent demen­tia.  One of the authors of the study, Dr. Steven DeKosky, of the Uni­ver­sity of Vir­ginia School of Med­i­cine, stated that, based on find­ings in this study, “Ginkgo biloba can­not be rec­om­mended for the pur­pose of pre­vent­ing demen­tia.”  Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the sup­ple­ment indus­try crit­i­cized the study, sug­gest­ing that the middle-aged, rather than the elderly par­tic­i­pants, would be a more reli­able way to ana­lyze ginkgo’s effects on the aging brain. They pointed out that demen­tia devel­ops over many years and that the par­tic­i­pants in this study were already at the high­est age risk for devel­op­ing the dis­or­der, due to advanced age.

Should You Con­tinue Tak­ing a Ginkgo Biloba Supplement?

The study authors cau­tioned that because Ginkgo biloba has an anti-coagulant effect, elderly patients with a his­tory of car­dio­vas­cu­lar dis­ease should always con­sult with their physi­cian before start­ing a Ginkgo biloba reg­i­men. If you are oth­er­wise healthy and find that tak­ing Ginkgo biloba helps you feel more focused and alert, then the lat­est study is fur­ther evi­dence that Ginkgo biloba is safe for healthy peo­ple to con­sume, even if seem­ingly inef­fec­tive as a pre­ven­ta­tive for Alzheimer’s dis­ease.  The lat­est research study is by no means the final ver­dict on Ginkgo biloba. The sci­en­tific com­mu­nity hasn’t reached a con­sen­sus on the effec­tive­ness of Ginkgo biloba in pro­tect­ing cog­ni­tive func­tion­ing. A 2008 study spon­sored by the government’s National Insti­tute of Health demon­strated that reg­u­lar, pro­longed use of stan­dard­ized ginkgo extract had a ben­e­fi­cial effect on the risk of devel­op­ing demen­tia. On the other hand, a 2007 study which exam­ined sev­eral smaller clin­i­cal tri­als, found them “incon­sis­tent and uncon­vinc­ing” proof that ginkgo biloba had a sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fit for peo­ple with demen­tia or cog­ni­tive impair­ment. There is another large 5-year study being con­ducted in France, the GuildAge study, and those results are expected to be pub­lished some­time in 2010. In the mean­time, here are cur­rent rec­om­men­da­tions to help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s dis­ease:
•   Con­sume a bal­anced diet with plenty of fruits, veg­eta­bles, olive oil, whole grains, nuts and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.
•   Exer­cise reg­u­larly and aer­o­bi­cally to increase blood cir­cu­la­tion and oxy­gen sup­ply to the heart and the brain.
•   Avoid and reduce excess stress.
•   Stay con­nected with other peo­ple because social iso­la­tion is a risk fac­tor.
•   Learn new things and use your sense of humor to keep your mind sharp.