William Atkins
Saturday, 10 January 2009 20:47
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
The volunteers were tested in five academic medical centers within the United States between the years of 2000 and 2008.
Each patient was given either 120 milligrams of G. biloba (1,545 patients) or a placebo (sugar pill) (1,524 patients) twice a day.
The researchers found that 523 patients developed dementia, with 246 of them getting the placebo and 277 of them receiving G. biloba.
Over 90% of the dementia cases were classified as
“possible or probably AD, or AD with evidence of vascular disease of the brain.”
They stated that the overall rate of dementia was 3.3 per 100 people (per year) in the G. biloba group and 2.9 per 100 people (per year) in the placebo group.
The researchers concluded,
“In this study, G biloba at 120 mg twice a day was not effective in reducing either the overall incidence rate of dementia or AD incidence in elderly individuals with normal cognition or those with MCI.”
This study is considered the largest clinical trial to test a drug or supplement for the express use of preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
Page three talks about a current study on Ginkgo biloba and dementia being conducted in Europe.
