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

No surprise because of the dosage

[vlm]

average of six years. Half of the participants took two 120-milligram capsules of ginkgo a day

No surprise because of the dosage... a peculiarity of human metabolism that theres very few (no?) raw materials you can consume at that level for years that has any effect other than life or death.

There are vitamins and minerals that have some effect at those dosages... again, generally speaking, after six years the effect is either life or death.

Everything else has no effect. 120 mg of red meat, no effect. Now, 4 Kg of grilled red meat every day, that'll have an effect on blood chemistry after six years. But not 120 mg.

Although caffeine would have some effect for the first month or two, tolerance rapidly develops, resulting in no effect. And 120 mg of tea leaves would be pretty weak tea.

There are some carefully refined prescription medicines that have an effect... but unrefined plant material, no.

I'm struggling to think of a "raw material" that would have any effect other than life and death at that low of a dose over that time period... High yield lead ore? High yield mercury ore?

Now you go to the Kg range, or the ug range, substances with interesting effects exist.