Ginkgo Biloba for Verbal Fluency
Ginkgo shows small effects in dementia populations and essentially none in healthy adults.
Overview
Verdict
How It Works
Dosing & Protocol
Typical dose
- Recommended dose
- 120-240mg standardised extract daily
- Expected timeframe
- 12-24 weeks
Protocol
- form
- Not applicable
- duration
- Not applicable
- co factor
- Evidence is insufficient. Verbal fluency is a standard neuropsychological measure and has been included in several ginkgo trials, which makes the absence of effect fairly clear: trials of standardised extract at 120-240 mg/day in healthy adults found no improvement, and the large GEM trial found no effect on language or fluency measures over six years of follow-up. Some dementia trials of EGb 761 at 240 mg/day report improvement in composite cognitive scores that include language items, but these findings are in impaired populations and do not generalise.
- titration
- Not applicable
- starting dose
- Not applicable
Evidence
What the studies say
Ginkgo biloba for cognitive impairment and dementia (Cochrane review)
Birks J, Grimley Evans J
The evidence that Ginkgo biloba has predictable and clinically significant benefit for people with dementia or cognitive impairment is inconsistent and unreliable.
Ginkgo biloba for cognition and verbal fluency: Cochrane systematic review
Birks J, Grimley Evans J
Evidence that ginkgo improves cognition, including verbal domains, was inconsistent and unreliable across trials
Safety
Caveats
Bleeding risk, particularly with anticoagulants. Stop two weeks before surgery.
Less likely to help if
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