Page 155 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

Page 144

controlled study. The main advantage of homeopathy, of course, is that because the tablets contain so
little active ingredient it is usually harmless, which cannot always be said for the medicines from
some of the older disciplines like Ayurveda and Unani. To my knowledge, there are no worthwhile
promemory homeopathic medications.

Most of these older medical systems focused on the maladies of youth and middle age, because
few people lived to a ripe old age in those times. Hence they had few medicines for age-related
memory loss. The one exception: Chinese medicine, from which several remedies arose to treat the
diseases of aging, including memory loss.

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo biloba is taken by millions of people. As with many other organic plant extracts, anecdotal
health claims abound for ginkgo. Many people think of it as a general tonic and consider memory
enhancement as a sidelight. Others call it a fad that they wouldn't touch with a pole of any size. But
what are the facts? What do we really know about ginkgo biloba?

Ginkgo contains many organic substances, which include flavonoids, terpenoids such as
ginkgolides and bilobalide, and several acids. These ingredients have varying degrees of antioxidant
activity, and this effect may underlie their promemory action.

Studies of Ginkgo Biloba for Memory Disorders

Nearly all the early studies that evaluated ginkgo biloba as a treatment for dementia came from
Europe, and most did not employ rigorous research methodology. Then a North American
consortium published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, utilizing EGb 761,
an extract of ginkgo biloba marketed by a German company that provided the financial support for
the experiment. In that study, of the 309 patients with dementia who were randomized to receive
EGb 761 or placebo, only 78 patients on EGb and 59 patients on placebo were able to complete the
one-year study. The EGb 761 study's results: even though the clinicians found no difference in their
global impression between patients on ginkgo and placebo, patients on ginkgo showed significantly
less decline on both a standard cognitive test and a forty-nine-item rating instrument completed by
the caregiver (usually a family member). The test scores indicated that over the one-year study's
duration, the ginkgo group