- Education, Training & Outreach - Patients & Caregivers - For
Investigators - Dementia in the News - Media Room USA Today
(December 30, 2009): 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 supplement. An extract derived from
the gingko tree, gingkgo biloba has been touted since the 1970s
by the supplement industry and others as an aid to improving
memory, cognitive decline, 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. 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 Eva