Ginkgo biloba is the herb for an aging population, says Jennifer Brett, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at the Wilton Naturopathic Center in Stratford, Connecticut. Most of Dr. Brett’s older patients—those over 65—are taking supplements of ginkgo. "People who are getting old worry about two things: Is my heart going to fail? Is my brain going to fail?" she explains. "In terms of prevention, this is an herb that people can take every day for the rest of their lives. It improves their general circulation and mental acuity."

In Europe, where botanical healing is common, many older people routinely take a ginkgo extract to improve their mental fitness. It is the most widely prescribed herb in Germany and has been approved in that country as a treatment for dementias, afflictions (including the type caused by Alzheimer’s disease) that are associated with loss of memory in older people.

Ginkgo is native to China, where the fruit and seeds have been used for 4,000 years to treat everything from asthma to problems with frequent urination and nocturnal emissions. The seeds and fruit are highly toxic, always require careful preparation, and need to be given in carefully measured doses to avoid poisoning. The leaves were rarely used as a medicine until a few decades ago, when European researchers concentrated dried leaves into an extract and discovered their remarkable medicinal properties.

Working with the extract, the researchers isolated two groups of active chemicals: flavone glycosides and a unique set of terpenoids that the scientists called ginkgolides. Over the years, an extract of 24 percent flavone glycosides and 6 percent ginkgolides became the standard used in scientific studies. Today, this formula, known as EGb 761, is used throughout Europe to treat heart disease, eye ailments, impotence due to low blood flow, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), poor circulation to the extremities, and head injuries and other brain-related conditions.

Although doctors and scientists don’t fully understand how the chemicals in ginkgo work in the human body, the effects and benefits are pretty well known, says Alison Lee, M.D., a pain-management specialist and medical director of Barefoot Doctors, an alternative medicine practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Ginkgo is really an important herb because there’s a lot of good research behind it," she says. "It works for many conditions."

Ginkgo is mostly known as a circulatory herb, or what doctors call a vasodilator. It widens blood vessels and holds them open so blood flow increases. While enlarging arteries and large veins, a vasodilator also expands capillaries, the tiny vessels webbed into your body tissues and organs.

This effect makes ginkgo especially useful for people who have cold hands and feet due to poor circulation. Dr. Brett routinely uses the herb to treat Raynaud’s disease, a severe constriction of blood vessels in response to cold. Raynaud’s sufferers literally can’t get blood to their fingers and toes, she says, but with the active chemicals in ginkgo, the blood vessels expand, allowing more warming blood to flow to the extremities.

Dr. Brett also prescribes ginkgo to people with diabetes who have lost feeling in their feet due to inflamed nerves and high blood sugar levels. Ginkgo stabilizes the blood flow, and its glycosides have strong anti-inflammatory properties. "I use it for any circulatory disorder," she says. If you have diabetes and want to consider using ginkgo, discuss it with your doctor.

By thinning the blood, ginkgo may protect you from a stroke or heart attack, which can be triggered by a blocked artery or a blood clot that has broken away from an artery wall. In the same way, it may ease or prevent angina attacks—heart pain caused by constricted vessels—and pain due to cholesterol buildup in the vessels of your legs.

Thin blood will still clot, but it may take longer, says Dr. Lee. If you’re already on an anticoagulant (blood-thinning) medication or taking aspirin to reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke, you should be careful about using ginkgo. "If you’re already on a blood thinner, talk to your doctor," she cautions. "Two of my patients got nosebleeds after they started the ginkgo."

Platelets are not the only blood cells modified by ginkgo, adds Dr. Lee. There’s evidence that after several weeks, the herb eventually makes the membranes of red blood cells bend and stretch more easily. This effect may be important in increasing blood flow to the brain.

"If the membrane is more pliable, the cells can actually squeeze their way into tighter places, past blocked or partially blocked arteries and vessels," she says. "That may be very important in increasing blood flow, particularly in the small vessels in the brain."

The benefit of any increased blood flow is that your tissues and vital organs receive additional nutrients and oxygen. Increased blood flow to the brain has been shown to improve alertness, short-term memory, and the ability to concentrate. It may also relieve tinnitus, improve mood, and counteract depression.

Ginkgo not only feeds your head, it also improves the action of substances called neurotransmitters, which help carry signals between nerve cells. Influenced by the herb, these substances work more efficiently, so that messages travel from cell to cell more quickly. "This is an herb that can make you think better. It directly stimulates the brain," says Dr. Brett. Ginkgo also apparently holds off or slows down the destructive consequences of an aging brain. Free radicals—the free-roaming, unstable molecules that invade cells and damage them—are natural metabolic by-products of aging. When someone has Alzheimer’s disease, the damaging effect of free radicals leads to more fat being deposited in brain cells. As that happens, those cells quickly become inoperative. Substances in ginkgo help to scavenge free radicals and slow down the rate at which fat is deposited, so the whole deterioration process is slowed.

Some research in Europe and the United States has shown that ginkgo can be helpful to people who have Alzheimer’s. For years, European studies have indicated that dementia patients taking ginkgo show signs of improvement. A few years ago, a U.S. study appeared to confirm these findings. American researchers gave people with mild to moderately severe dementia 120 milligrams of EGb 761, the European ginkgo extract, each day for one year. Meanwhile, another group received an extract with no ginkgo (a placebo). After looking at the comparative results of treatment, researchers concluded that the ginkgo extract appeared to stabilize or, in some cases, improve mental functioning.

The researchers estimated that the ginkgo may have bought the patients a delay in the disease of between six months and a year. They note, however, that the treatment appears to work best in the early stages of the disease.

Big Savings on Health Supplements

This Month Specials