Ginkgo Doesn't Prevent Dementia

Ginkgo Doesn't Prevent Dementia

Ginkgo extract "cannot be recommended" as a preventive for dementia, concludes a JAMA study.

Researchers randomized some 3000 patients to receive twice-daily doses of Ginkgo biloba extract or matching placebo. Participants averaged almost 80 years of age at entry, when they were either free of dementia or had only mild cognitive impairment; they underwent assessment every 6 months for a median 6 years' follow-up.

By the end of follow-up, there were no differences between the groups in overall incidence of dementia or Alzheimer disease.

An editorialist, calling this "the largest and longest randomized" trial to examine the effects of ginkgo extract, says it offers the "substantial bulk" of independently funded data on the substance. And writing in Journal Watch Psychiatry, Jonathan Silver comments that "in the present economy, people can put the [estimated annual $100 million expenditure for ginkgo] to better use."