For people struggling with tinnitus, the herb ginkgo biloba is
often recommended as a natural remedy. Tinnitus, a common
condition marked by persistent ringing in the ears, is thought
to result from blood vessel abnormalities in some cases. While
some proponents claim that ginkgo can help treat tinnitus by
improving the health of blood vessels, there is very little
scientific support for this claim. The Science Behind Ginkgo and
Tinnitus To date, very few studies have tested ginkgo's effects
on people with tinnitus. The available research includes a 2001
study from the journal BMJ, in which 1,121 tinnitus patients
were treated with either ginkgo or a placebo for 12 weeks. Study
results showed ginkgo was no more effective than the placebo in
treatment of tinnitus. For a 2004 report published in the
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, researchers sized up 12
clinical trials on ginkgo and tinnitus, and found that 10 of the
studies had serious flaws. Looking at findings from the other
two studies, the report