Ginkgo Biloba Fails To Preserve Memory

If you've forgotten why you take Ginkgo biloba, we're not surprised.

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An extract from trees like this one doesn't help with memory after all.

jam343/Flickr

An extract from trees like this one doesn't help with memory after all.

Loads of people take the popular herbal supplement to bolster their mental abilities against the effects of aging. Only problem is it doesn't work, according to findings just published in JAMA.

Everyone's brain slows down with age. Advocates of Ginkgo biloba have said the supplement could help stem the slippage, helping us remember more as the years roll by. But the most definitive study yet concluded there's "no evidence" Ginkgo biloba "slows the rate of cognitive decline in older adults."

The findings come from a study of more than 3,000 elderly patients (aged 72 to 96) who got either a Ginkgo biloba supplement or sugar pills twice a day for years. Researchers tested the people's memory and mental faculties every six months for about 6 years.

Both groups got a littler worse each year on the battery of tests. But the group getting the supplement didn't fare any better than the those getting the dummy pills. On some tests the people taking placebo did slightly better.

The federal government funded the study. Schwabe Pharmaceuticals of Germany donated the supplements and placebo pills. The company disputed the findings, saying the study was hurt by a relatively low percentage of people taking the supplement consistently (about 60 percent) and an unexpectedly low decline in the mental faculties of the people taking placebo, which made the comparison worse for the Ginkgo biloba.