Hopes have been dashed once and for all that the dietary supplement ginkgo biloba can protect against age-related dementia and the memory-destroying disease Alzheimer's, according to a large government-funded study out today.www3.tvboxnow.com5 d: n6 Y" e: C6 n
Inthe largest clinical trial ever to evaluate the impact of gingko biloba supplements on the development of dementia, the results have come up flat, says study author Steven DeKosky, vice president and dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. DeKosky's research appears in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. ! a) I# ?8 V8 a5 m: C0 b6 m8 O) g6 U4 I
"We're hugely disappointed. It could have saved hundreds of thousands of people from getting the disorder," DeKosky says.% S J% O- [$ }1 l" O& @( g. D
Forthe study, DeKosky and colleagues tested the effectiveness of 120milligrams (mg) of ginkgo twice daily versus a placebo in diminishing dementia and Alzheimer's in more than 3,000 elderly volunteers. The participants were 75 or older and had normal cognitive health or only mild cognitive problems at the study's launch in 2000. They were followed up every 6 months for 6 years. ) x; [4 g: H( `$ G2 |7 iTVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。There was negligible difference between the supplement and placebo takers by study's end. Of the 523 who developed dementia, 246 received the placebo and 277 took ginkgo.www3.tvboxnow.com5 B/ x& M0 A0 F; A, n1 w
"This will be awake-up call for all those who spend hundreds of dollars on unproven memory cures," says Murali Doraiswamy, an Alzheimer's expert from Duke University. According to the Nutrition Business Journal, consumers now spend more than $100 million a year on ginkgo supplements.TVBNOW 含有熱門話題，最新最快電視，軟體，遊戲，電影，動漫及日常生活及興趣交流等資訊。/ M. q! x3 W& E& ^7 k9 t0 e- C0 W
The new study puts to rest the questions previous studies have raised about the effectiveness of ginkgo biloba as a memory preserver, says Lon Schneider, professor of psychiatry, neurology and gerontology at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the same issue of JAMA. 2 i. S' E' Q1 ?; K! wwww3.tvboxnow.comSchneider says Ginkgo's antioxidant properties, previously isolated in the lab,had led researchers to believe the plant-derived supplement would be beneficial to brain health.www3.tvboxnow.com i; i' j0 N, [% G/ n6 E
"This is one more example of a commonly-used food supplement or 'nutriceutical' (a nutrient with drug-like properties but not legally recognized as a therapeutic agent) that is thought to be effective, safe, or at least to cause no harm, sometimes advocated by physicians or health-enthusiasts as having health benefits, that when subjected to clinical trials is found to not be effective," Schneider says. ; f4 D6 R. h/ t) o# E- z"There are a ton of over-the-counter products that claim to boost memory and help Alzheimer's, but none of them are clinically proven to have any benefit," says Raymond Turner, director of the Memory Disorders Programat Georgetown Unviersity Medical Center. He says controlling blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol may help because cardiovascular risk factors are linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer's.tvb now,tvbnow,bttvb$ v% x0 w a2 N {6 f- d
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[ 本帖最後由 bandaid168 於 2008-11-19 12:15 PM 編輯 ]
