There appears to be no miracle pill that would prevent dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Not even ginkgo – the dietary supplement long touted as an aid to improving memory – works, according to a federally funded study that appeared in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
"No side effects, no effects," said Dr. John A. Robbins, professor of medicine at the UC Davis Medical Center, one of the study's investigators. Robbins said it is important to know if the herbal medication works because it is so widely consumed.
Americans spend about $100 million in 2007 on the supplement, the Nutrition Business Journal estimates. It is among the best-selling herbal medicine in Europe and the United States.
Ginkgo biloba, or maidenhair tree, is one of the oldest living tree species, and extracts from its tree leaves are believed to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
"People take this stuff with the false hope that it helps," Robbins said.
The study, considered the largest clinical trial ever to evaluate the effects of ginkgo, lasted seven years and recruited about 3,000 people, ages 75 and older, in Maryland, Pennsylvania, California and North Carolina.
Half of the participants took 120 milligrams of ginkgo biloba twice a day, and the others took a placebo.
The participants, who did not know if they were given the supplement or dummy pills until the trial ended, were tested every six months.
They were given a series of memory tests, which included placing in sequence a mix of numbers and letters and replicating a figure.
Researchers found that of the 523 participants eventually diagnosed with dementia, 277 took ginkgo and 246 took placebo. The rate was similar for Alzheimer's disease.
Harold Blickenstaff, 84, of Nevada City, said he thought he was on the dummy pills because they had no effects on him.
"Ginkgo is not the answer," Blickenstaff said.
He doesn't plan to continue his use of ginkgo.
"There's not much point in doing it if it doesn't do you any good," said Blickenstaff, who was among 150 elderly men and women who attended a talk by Robbins on Saturday.
Blickenstaff's friend, Harry Bailey, 88, from Grass Valley, said after he stopped taking ginkgo, his memory seemed to have deteriorated.
"But it could also mean I'm getting older," he said with a smile.
Gerald Sady, 84, of Sacramento, said he isn't disappointed with the study's findings.
"They let us know from the beginning that it wasn't tried and true," Sady said. Also, "I try not to depend too much on pills," he said.
Call The Bee's Chelsea Phua, (916) 321-1132. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.