GINGKO BILOBA AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
Report #7251
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that a popular health food extract from the ginko tree may help slow the devastating loss of memory caused by Alzheimer's disease, but this benefit was seen in only one third of sufferers and was more noticeable to family members than doctors/ and did not show up in their test scores.
You should not lose mental function with aging. However many older people lose their ability to think and reason. One of 20 North Americans will eventually develop Alzheimer's disease, a condition that causes progressive loss of mental function and coordination. Researchers used three tests: objective tests of the patient's memory, language and coordination; caregiver's assessment of behavior; and doctor's estimation of patient's mental function. The tests for memory and the doctors assessment showed no benefit whatever, but the people who took care of Alzheimer patients felt that there was a greater improvement in those who took the gingko biloba extract.
Extracts from the ginko tree have been shown to increase circulation of blood to the brain, prevent clotting, and function as antioxidants to reduce cell damage. The patients in this study received regulated potent extracts, but I know of no government regulatory agency that regularly supervises the quality, safety and dosage of so-called extracts from food in the United States today.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
JAMA October 21, 1997.
Checked 8/9/05; see report #G101.