This stuff is being toutedin the health food stors, as the next best thing since sliced bread. it is supposed to clear your brain, help the heart, etc. It is derived from the fruit of the ginko tree, one of the most ancient trees in existence. my question: since this plant is so ancient, it probably never had to develop any incentives for mammals to eat its fruit (to disperse the seeds). Hence, there would probably be no chemicals in the fruit of benefit to mammals. So why is this stuff thought to be good for you? by the way, many Chinese and Korean people eat the fruit-I don’t know why, since it has a positively PUTRID odor when ripe!
it’s also fecking expensive.
Many plants have beneficial phytochemicals. I don’t think there’s any correlation between healthful ingredients and coaxing animals to eat the plant.
Ginko balboa is a phytoantioxidant. In a controlled study published October, 1997, in the JAMA, some improvement in behavioral and cognitive functions in Alzheimer patients were documented. Much more research is needed.
British researchers compiled results from eight studies in which ginkgo extract was used to treat intermittent cladication, the limping that occurs early on in peripheral arterial disease. Those who took ginkgo could walk about 110 feet farther before feeling leg pain than those who took a placebo (New England Journal of Medicine, Health News, May 2000)
As an antioxidant it may be of some benefit for certain eye disorders. Research has shown that both ova and sperm are injured by echinacea, ginkgo, and St. John’s Wort (Health Gazette, December 1999).
How do you get this expensive stuff out of the gingko tree? There are gingkos planted all over the campus; in fact there are three in front of my dorm, and the entire parking lot is covered in small, hard, round orange fruits. Am I sleeping in front of a moneymaking giant? Should I be gathering these things by the bushel basket and selling them on ebay?
herbal drugs aren’t regulated so you reallydont know what is in them & if they have as much Ginko as they say. Chances are they don’t.
Besides, think about it, if you can REMEMBER to take Ginko, do you still need it for your memory?
I work in the lab at a company that makes herbal product, including Gingko Biloba, and we make damn sure that our bottles actually contain what the label says they do. We voluntarily follow the guidelines laid down by the government for the pharmecutical industry, as does every other similar company I’m familir with. It’s just good business. We have no desire to get sued. We just rejected several tons today because we detected that some idiot in production forgot one ingredient.
It’s not the fruit of Ginkgo Biloba that’s used for the standardized extract; it comes from the leaves of the tree. It takes a lot of leaves and the right equipment to make the strength of extract used medicinally, so it’s not conducive to an individual harvesting them for profit. Research has shown that ginkgo leaf extract promotes circulation, so it’s benefit is in conditions of vascular disease. A well respected medical herbalist, David Hoffman, has compiled some information here.
The kernel of the seed of the (really stinky) fruit has been used in traditional Asian medicine for entirely different conditions. It’s used for lung and urinary problems. The fruit itself can cause allergic reactions by contact or ingestion, similar to poison ivy.
Aside from it’s medicinal use, the ginkgo is a really beautiful tree. It’s the only living descendant of the *Ginkgoales *order, which flourished 150 million years ago. It has lovely, distinct fan shaped leaves, and has the magnificent habit of all the leaves turning bright yellow right about now in the fall and shedding almost at once. Large trees are found around the US because it was once in favor as an ornamental.
Handy; it’s difficult to navigate the glut of herbal products on the market now, but there are many reputable companies trying to establish quality and standards. For Ginkgo, clinical research uses a standardized extract containing 24 percent ginkgo heterosides.
Gingko extracts do seem to have some benefits, to a degree which remains to be determined. Occasionally one sees whole gingko leaves sold, whch is bad because parts of the plant are neurotoxic, or so a well-known neurologist told me a year or so ago. You just want the extracts.