Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy[_10_]
Actually, I understand that caffein, and ginko (not together) have shown
promise, at least with short term memory.
Use ginkgo biloba if your memory loss is due to age-related issues.
Simply forgetting where you ate dinner last night will probably be
better treated by other herbs. However, if documented memory loss is due
to age, ginkgo is the best herb to use.
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Caffeine helps to keep you alert - can the effect be separated?
Ginkgo: Wikipedia sums up the evidence as follows.
"Nonetheless, a meta-analysis in 2012[49] reported zero effect sizes for the impact of Ginkgo biloba on memory, attention and problem-solving in healthy individuals."
"An editorial in The Lancet concluded ginkgo biloba does not prevent dementia in elderly individuals with or without memory complaints or cognitive impairment and is not effective for prevention of Alzheimer's disease.[50]"
Nevertheless we can observe there are some interesting biochemical effects from Ginkgo which indicate other routes for study.
The trouble is that medical studies can so easily be badly done that it is very easy to find "some promise" results for a junk treatment in the typical badly done study. And studies in complementary medicine are usually in the badly done category. This is why Chinese studies of traditional Chinese medicine always find it works, when properly conducted studies always find it doesn't. For example, acupuncture has now been thoroughly debunked.