Study: Ginkgo biloba may have benefits for seniors

Long promoted as an aid to memory, ginkgo biloba may not prevent or delay the progression of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study released Wednesday.

But it may have other benefits for healthy seniors, states a study conducted locally in 2000.

“We found it to be moderately effective in improving certain aspects of brain function, especially in the area known as speed of processing,” said Joseph Mix, a professor of health sciences and kinesiology at Liberty University. He was the principal investigator of an earlier study on the effects of the herbal extract on the cognitive abilities of healthy seniors.

“When given a paper and pencil puzzle where they have to connect the dots or do a mental exercise, they can do it faster with ginkgo,” he said.

Mix and Lynchburg psychologist David Crews conducted the study, which involved 262 people from the Lynchburg area aged 60 years and older.

Half of the participants took 60mg tablets of ginkgo biloba three times a day for six weeks. The other half took a placebo. None were informed which tablet they were taking.

“They were given a battery of (13) cognitive tests at the beginning, and then again at the end after the six weeks were up,” Mix said. “Since they were given the same tests twice, both groups improved. But (about six percent of) the ginkgo group improved significantly more in three of those tests, especially in the area of speed of processing.”

After seeing advertisements touting the benefits of taking the extract, he said, “we wanted to find out if it worked.”

The $200,000 study was funded by the German-based Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co., a large pharmaceutical company that sells ginkgo biloba.

Mix said the funding was accepted with the caveat that he be able to publish the results, “whether they were good or bad.”

Their study differs from the one released Wednesday, he said, since his focused only on healthy seniors, and did not measure the effects of ginkgo biloba on dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

The newer study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, was conducted on a much larger scale — over six years, and involving more than 3,000 volunteers age 75 and older.

According to the Associated Press, it found that people who took the supplement were slightly more likely to be diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease than their counterparts who received dummy pills.

As for Mix, he’s comfortable enough with the extract to take it himself.

“It’s a powerful antioxidant, so we feel that it’s beneficial,” he said. “If nothing else, it seems to improve blood flow to the brain.”