Ginkgo Biloba Benefits

Chinese medicine has known of the benefits of ginkgo biloba for thousands of years, the Europeans for decades, and it's rapidly gaining acceptance in the US .

Ginkgo Biloba Benefits For Alzheimer's Sufferers

There has been a lot of practical experience with ginkgo biloba, and a number of studies have been carried out as well.

One review of studies found that ginkgo biloba gave improvements with attention and short-term memory similar to patients using the drug donepezil (Aricept).

50 studies were initially looked at; four of these were used for the review because they met the criteria of the patients having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a standardized Ginkgo Biloba extract was used and so was a placebo-controlled double-blind design. The review was carried out in 1998 by Oken and other researchers.

A review of 33 clinical trials of ginkgo biloba was carried out in October 2002, and that found that there is strong evidence that the herb improves cognition, and that it probably does slow the degenerative process of dementia, and that it appears to be safe.

The UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute found that ginkgo biloba benefits people with age related memory problems. Taking the herb for six months gave a significant improvement over people using the placebo.

Studies indicate that you need to use the ginkgo biloba for a number of months for improvements to show. Benefits include improved behaviour, a better sense of well-being, better self-sufficiency and less hospitalization.

How Does It Work?

It is thought that Ginkgo Biloba benefits dementia sufferers because it is an antioxidant and because it improves blood flow in the brain.

Antioxidants fight the free radicals that contribute to cell damage, aging and degeneration.

Other Benefits of Ginkgo Biloba

Apart from helping with dementia, studies have shown that ginkgo biloba can help a lot of other diseases. These include mountain sickness, asthma, sexual dysfunction, Raynaud's disease, macular degeneration in the eyes, depression, headaches, disorientation, hypoxia, tinnitus, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, hearing loss in the elderly, blood vessel health, and more.

Ginkgo Biloba Side-Effects and Precautions

Ginkgo biloba is generally safe to use, but there are some precautions to be aware of.

It is a blood thinner so care should be taken when it is used with other blood thinning agents. It should be discontinued at least 36 hours before an operation because of bleeding complications. It shouldn't be used by pregnant women, or when breast-feeding.

Consult your doctor about its use particularly if you are on other medication.

Dosage

The ginkgo biloba is usually taken as a tablet or capsule. For patients with Alzheimer's, the dosage is usually 120 – 240 mg a day, taken in two or three dosages. It can take several months for results to be seen.

Other Alzheimer's Treatments

There are medications that can slow the progress of Alzheimer's, and a whole range of natural methods for fighting this devastating disease. A sufferer in the early stages of AD can gain years of quality time.

Frank Mangano's e-book “The Mind Killer Defence” has the best information on fighting and preventing Alzheimer's disease invest that I have come across. Click to read about it.