Ginkgo extract doesn't slow cognitive decline-study

How can this be? At least there is good news with the bad news.

"The widely used herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba does not appear to slow the rate of cognitive decline in healthy older people or those with mild cognitive impairment, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

Their study involved 3,069 people age 72 or older from four U.S. communities who were tracked for an average of six years. Half of them took twice-daily doses of 120 milligrams of extract from the leaves of the ginkgo tree and half received a placebo.

Compared with study participants who received a placebo, the use of Ginkgo biloba did not slow cognitive decline in those with normal conditions or those with mild cognitive impairment, the researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings suggest that Ginkgo biloba -- one of the top-selling herbal supplements used with the aim of improving memory and preventing age-related cognitive decline -- had no effect on subtle changes associated with early symptoms of dementia or normal aging, the researchers said."

The bad - the whole year and the rest of your life are ruined because ginkgo doesn't work.

The good - take ginkgo and you won't remember why.