Ginkgo biloba as a memory booster? Forget about it.

LA Times
December 29, 2009

If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to save money, here’s one suggestion: Stop buying ginkgo biloba pills to boost your brainpower.

Ginkgo is a popular – and unregulated – herbal remedy that was thought to prevent the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease and general aging. It is prescribed by some doctors in Europe to preserve memory. On this side of the pond, the pills are touted for their ability to “improve mental sharpness, concentration, memory and cognitive ability,” according to one manufacturer.

There is some basic science to support that notion. According to this Los Angeles Times story from last year:

Ginkgo biloba contains flavonoids, whose antioxidant properties have been shown to combat the chemical damage that accumulates in aging brain cells. One laboratory study also found that ginkgo extract prevents the accumulation of beta-amyloid proteins which cluster into plaque in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"There are a lot of purported reasons why ginkgo might work," said Richard L. Nahin, a neuroscientist at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, who worked on the study.

But as that story reported, a randomized clinical trial involving more than 3,000 senior citizens found that gingko biloba did nothing to prevent or delay dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

(Continued here.)