The herbal health supplement Gingko Biloba has been used by many for its ability to boost mental alertness and other benefits. For those that have been taking the supplement as a means of staving off the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, some unfortunate news has developed. Specifically, it has been shown that the supplement will not slow down or prevent the onset of the condition.

We have not discovered this information flippantly or through a faulty test. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has performed a clinical test study of 3,000 elderly individuals and arrived at these results. These results have proven devastating for those that had hoped the Gingko Biloba herbal supplement truly presented the wonder cure for the debilitating illness.

The test subjects ranged in age from 72 to 96 and they were provided with regular daily dosages of Gingko Biloba and placebo sugar pills. Over a period of six years, all the test subjects were examined and the same result was discovered: there was no difference at all in terms of the memory capabilities of the subject. In a way, the Gingko Biloba supplements were nothing more than modified sugar pills themselves. As such, their value as a treatment for Alzheimer’s is inconsequential.

“Compared with placebo, the use of Ginkgo biloba, 120 mg twice daily, did not result in less cognitive decline in older adults with normal cognition or with mild cognitive impairment,” the researchers conclude.

The study is reported in the Dec. 23/30 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Ginkgo Biloba & Alzheimer's: No Effects: Study