Ginkgo Doesn't Improve Memory Or Cognitive Skills

JumperCable writes "Ginkgo biloba has failed — again — to live up to its reputation for boosting memory and brain function. Just over a year after a study showed that the herb doesn't prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease, a new study from the same team of researchers has found no evidence that ginkgo reduces the normal cognitive decline that comes with aging. In the new study, the largest of its kind to date, DeKosky and his colleagues followed more than 3,000 people between the ages of 72 and 96 for an average of six years. Half of the participants took two 120-milligram capsules of ginkgo a day during the study period, and the other half took a placebo. The people who took ginkgo showed no differences in attention, memory, and other cognitive measures compared to those who took the placebo, according to the study, which was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association."

Comments

That's just Western prejudice

[For a Free Internet]

These euro-centric "scientists" can't see pas their narrow-minded blinders to tap into the millenia of cultural experience embodied in Eastern medical and spiritual traditions. The point is, Gingko Baloba has a very potent effect when added to the labels of alternative medical products, causing them to fly off the shelves in exchange for cash. Western medicine is just jealous and probably racist and sexist against peoples like me.

Re:That's just Western prejudice

[Hatta]

Sounds like they should do some tests on this "placebo" stuff to see what makes it as good as ginkgo.

Re:That's just Western prejudice

[nasch]

I think you should probably just get a new sarcasm detector. Yours may be beyond repair.

Re:That's just Western prejudice

[sdpuppy]

Yeah yeah.

But the problem with Ginko (and stuff like it) is that the people who really need it

forget to take it

Thank you, I'll be here all day.

Now what were we talking about? (dang)

Medical conspiracy!

[vvaduva]

Yes but was it ORGANIC Kinkgo?? That is the question! This test was obviously conducted by real doctors who don't want us to know the truth about the power of eating weeds that grow in exotic jungles.

Re:Medical conspiracy!

[Jason Levine]

No, first you need to grow the Ginko organically. Then you need to increase the potency by diluting it homeopathically. Next, you form it into an ear candle. Once you do that, the the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot will contact the aliens from Vega 7 who will beam increased memory skills and ESP into you. But if any of this is attempted by "Western medicine", it will all fail.

Re:Medical conspiracy!

[MBGMorden]

I concur. They also need to make sure that they're using ALL NATURAL ginkgo.

I find it comical that the "ALL NATURAL" movement has any weight behind it when countless varieties of "all natural" plants are quite poisonous, whilst tons of completely chemically derived artificial medicines will save your life.

Heck I literally remember one stupid infomercial that was on a while back where the guy (one of those typical hyped up dorks who always appears on such shows) was proclaiming that we shouldn't eat anything that had something with a "chemical sounding name" in the ingredients list. I wonder how they'd feel about sodium chloride or dihydrogen monoxide.

"Americans spent $107 million on it"

[sakdoctor]

Holy shit, that's a lot of placebo.
But just wait until I convince everyone to eat my lawn. I'll be rich!

Oh wait ... http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=138

Actually works to their advantage

[jarocho]

I bet the herbal supplements industry is hoping its customers will forget all about this report eventually... :)

Re:Actually works to their advantage

[Joe Snipe]

any sort of logic won't get absorbed by their brain.

Prolly because they don't take enough Ginko Biloba...

Back to the real thang

[oldhack]

Smoke and coffee.

Re:Maybe for dementia patients...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have this rock here that scares away tigers. Interested?

Re:So what exactly then...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Ginkgo Balboa is clinically proven to improve your boxing skills...

Re:You know what else it's good for though, right?

[Forge]

In other news Red Bull dose not actually give you wings and drinking it will not enable you to fly.

We return to our reporter at the scene where emergency crews are cleaning up the mess left by someone who took an add for a food or drink product literally.

Ginkgo is FOOD. Not medicine. Meaning that all the distributors need to prove is that it isn't poisonous and they can sell it with all kinds of wild claims attached. Perhaps the rules should change to require literal truth. "Our bear makes other people more beautiful to you"

Re:Ginko has a different effect on me

[Aladrin]

It's true, but it's harder to get motivated enough to exercise. It's fairly easy to get motivated enough to take a pill.

Maybe he should take the pill to get motivated to exercise...

Re:You know what else it's good for though, right?

[BarryJacobsen]

"Our bear makes other people more beautiful to you"

Is that a Care Bear, or what kind of bear, exactly?

Re:Ginko has a different effect on me

[Synn]

I just can't get up the energy to take a pill every day. Do you think they could make a pill that makes me motivated to take pills?

Re:So what exactly then...

[machine321]

That sounds racist to me.

Re:Ginko has a different effect on me

[Aladrin]

I think that your father's boot is used for that. It's an anal suppository.

Re:So what exactly then...

[jollyreaper]

Ginkgo Balboa is clinically proven to improve your boxing skills...

And Ginko Bilboa is clinically proven to get you there and back again.

Re:Ginko has a different effect on me

[un1xl0ser]

in fact, forget the motivation ...