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Ginkgo biloba extract may reduce Alzheimer's risk
24 June 2010
Long-term use of ginkgo biloba extract may have some protective effect against Alzheimer's disease, French scientists say.
In the European study, GuidAge, groups of elderly people with memory complaints were randomly given a daily dose of either 240mg of ginkgo extract or a placebo pill.
Four years later, 29 out of 966 people who were given the placebo developed Alzheimer's disease, compared with 15 out of 947 of those who took the ginkgo extract EGb 761.
Professor Ralf Ihl, director of the Department of Geriatric Psychiatry at Germany's Duesseldorf University, told a British daily ginkgo biloba may exert a preventive effect.
“With the findings of this study, we have first scientifically verifiable results suggesting the extract may be useful for preventing the development of Alzheimer's disease.”
Schwabe Pharmaceuticals, the company that manufactures EGb 761, says the results corresponded with two earlier studies carried out in France, along with a US funded study that found a dementia protective effect in subjects who took their medication regularly.
Another US study had earlier found ginkgo extract EGb 761 provided no protective effect against dementia. However the company argued that towards the end of this study, the medicine was reportedly taken by little more than half of the intended subjects.
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