Ginkgo Biloba is an herbal supplement often taken in hopes of improving memory function, but can it help to prevent dementia and alzheimer disease in the elderly? A study in the Journal of the Medical Association has the answer to that question.
Betty Haughin was married for 58 years to her husband Ken. He passed away almost four years ago. "He meant the world to me. All we ever wanted was each other, and a home, and children and the good lord sent them all to us. We had a good marriage. "The last year of Ken's life was tough, as Alzheimers disease took its toll. "it's just a descent into sadness."
Betty volunteered for a first-of-its-kind research study, to see if ginkgo biloba - a popular herbal supplement taken in hopes of memory improvement - helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.
The University of Virginia School of Medicine's Doctor Steven Dekosky, who was at the University of Pittsburgh at the time of the study, led the research team. "Because it is the most common kind of dementia in late life, we were especially interested in focusing on alzheimer's disease as well as all other causes of dementia that occur in late life."
The study appears this week in jama, Journal of the American Medical Association. It compared the effect of ginkgo biloba with placebo for as long as seven years, by more than 3,000, age 75 or older, with normal cognition or with mild cognitive impairment.
"The test results showed us that under these circumstances, ginkgo doesn't appear to have any effect of slowing down thinking changes in late life."
No effect - and so, no breakthrough. but Dr. Dekosky still has a goal: to find a way to delay the onset of dementia in the elderly. "Delaying the onset of the disease for ten years would effectively eliminate it from the population."
In this study, participants took 240 milligrams of ginkgo biloba - or placebo tablets - every day. To find out more you'll find the article from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
