Participants were initially sane (2 subjects) or had mild age-associated cognitive deficits (587 subjects). For six to seven years, they had to take two tablets per day of a standardized extract of ginkgo (482 mg extract per tablet – EGb 120^®) or an equivalent placebo. By the end of the trial, about 3% of participants had been medically diagnosed with senile dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, and the proportion of those affected was the same in the ginkgo group and in the control group.

The authors of the study point out that it is not excluded that ginkgo may have longer-term beneficial effects in younger people, but they do not hide their disappointment at these results.

In this trial, the researchers did not compare the effects of ginkgo to those of a drug, since no one has yet shown any efficacy in this regard. They were looking to see if ginkgo could fill this therapeutic void.

“The time between the initial changes in the brain and the appearance of the first clinical signs of dementia is very long, so there is always the possibility that ginkgo will have effects, positive or negative, over a longer period of time. long, ”write the study’s authors in their conclusion.

Only 60% of participants had taken their tablets faithfully, both in the placebo group and in the active group, the researchers also report. It is not known whether this protocol hitch could have affected the results.

However, the researchers did not find any side effects related to ginkgo, including the risk of bleeding that is often associated with the use of this plant. Other large-scale trials on ginkgo are underway.

Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net

According to Food Navigator, NIH News, The Globe and Mail et HerbalGram.

1. Dekosky ST, Williamson JD et al. Ginkgo biloba for Prevention of Dementia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. JAMA. 2008 Nov 19; 300 (19): 2253-2262.