Daily Medical Records

Older people who took the ginkgo biloba for several years have not obtained a slower cognitive decline compared to those taking a placebo in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Ginkgo biloba is widely marketed and used with the hope to improve, prevent or delay cognitive impairment associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. But data from large clinical trials on its effects on cognitive functioning in the long term are lacking.

Beth E. Snitz the University of Pittsburgh (USA) and colleagues analyzed the results of the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) to determine whether Ginkgo b. slowed cognitive decline in elderly patients who had normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study.

This study has previously shown that Ginkgo b. was not effective in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.

It was conducted with 3069 persons, aged 72-96 years residing in the community. They were randomly assigned to take twice daily dose of 120 mg of ginkgo extract b. or a placebo of identical appearance. They were followed 6.1 years on average. The evaluators did not know which product each participant had received. It is the largest study using the rigorous methodology to date.

The results showed no effect of the extract of Ginkgo b. overall cognitive change and the specific areas such as memory, language, attention, visuospatial abilities and executive functions (planning, decision making, etc..). No difference was also found according to age, gender, ethnicity or cognitive level at the beginning of the study.

“In sum, we found no evidence that Ginkgo b. slows cognitive decline in older people. These results are consistent with previous smaller studies that focused on the prevention of decline and the facilitation of cognitive performance as well as ‘with the Cochrane review, conducted in 2009, studies published to date on the subject, “say the authors.

(One) highest study to date, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Institute on Aging.

(2) The MCI is an intermediate state between normal cognitive status due to the age in which this is a degree of forgetfulness and a state where most pronounced deficits frequently progress to Alzheimer’s disease. It is characterized by forgetfulness light, language difficulties and other cognitive problems that are observable but do not interfere with everyday tasks.