Another unclear study on Ginkgo
posted in - CAM watch, - Palmdoc |Ginkgo is a popular herbal supplement taken with the purported aim of “helping memory”. We earlier mentioned a study which showed that Ginkgo may not help cognitive function of older adults in the short term.
Recently another randomised placebo controlled study has been published (ref: Neurology. 2008 Feb 27 ) which was conducted over a longer period – 42 months. Over this time, half as many elderly patients taking Ginkgo developed memory problems compared with those taking placebo. However, this result did not reach statistical significance (p=0.06). I also am concerned that there were more ischemic strokes and TIAs in the Ginkgo arm and this was of greater statistical significance (p=0.01). This is pretty strange for a herb which is supposed to “promote circulation”.
One might say this is only a small (118 subjects) pilot study. The results are however unclear and do not lend strong support for the use of Ginkgo in helping memory. The higher incidence of ischemic stroke in the Ginkgo arm is of concern and further studies are needed.
Related MMR posts:
Ginkgo may not aid memory in healthy older adults
Ginkgo and Bruising
On warfarin? Be careful of what else you ingest
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