The three year long study, led by Hiroko Dodge, PhD, of the Department of Public Health and Center for Healthy Aging Research at Oregon State University in Corvallis, involved 118 people age 85 and older with no memory problems.
Amongst those, half of the participants took ginkgo biloba extract three times a day and half took a placebo. 21 people developed mild memory problems or questionable dementia during the study: 14 of those took the placebo and seven took the ginkgo extract.
Though ginkgo seemed to reap positive results, the difference between those who took gingko versus the placebo was not statistically significant.
Surprisingly, when the researchers looked at the data at the end of the trial, they found that people who reliably took the supplement had a 68 pct lower risk of developing mild memory problems than those who took the placebo, taking into account whether people followed directions in taking the study pills.
However, if this difference is real or just a chance occurrence was not clear without further study.
In fact being on the safer side, the study also found that people taking ginkgo biloba were more prone to have a stroke or transient ischemic attack, or mini stroke. Seven people taking ginkgo had strokes, while none of those taking placebo did
article found at Medindia
Has somebody here a subscription at the A merican Academy of Neurology for the full study ?