Beyond Brainboosting

Better Nutrition, April, 2000 by Jamison Starbuck

The many faces of ginkgo

It seems our old friend ginkgo may be in danger. At risk, that is, of being typecast exclusively as a brain herb. This would be unfortunate, as ginkgo has so many other useful, medicinal qualities well worth knowing about.

Ginkgo and your ears

Take for example, tinnitus, a condition affecting thousands of people. In tinnitus, sounds are perceived in the absence of any acoustic stimulus. A person with tinnitus constantly hears noises, and they can vary tremendously -- ringing, buzzing, hissing, roaring, whistling -- despite the fact that no external source is causing a sound. Although not considered a physically "painful" condition, tinnitus can be excruciating because its sufferers never experience silence.

The condition is caused by any one of a variety of conditions that damage the ear -- infection, obstruction, toxicity, anemia, hypothyroidism, head injury and noise-induced trauma. Sadly, there is no surgical or medical treatment to correct the problem. Physicians offer distraction techniques: background music, hearing aids and ear-insert devices that produce sounds considered more pleasant than the ones caused by tinnitus.

Ginkgo may offer relief for some, though not all, tinnitus patients. Germany's Commission E (PDR for Herbal Medicines, 1998) has approved the use of standardized extracts of ginkgo for:

* organic brain dysfunction

* intermittent claudication

* vertigo (vascular origin)

* tinnitus (vascular origin)

A July 1999 review article by F. Clostre in a French medical journal said "experimental and clinical studies have shown the efficacy of EGb 761 [a form of ginkgo] in treating [...] tinnitus." A very promising review article, from 1998, by B. Soholm, found statistically significant improvement in symptoms of tinnitus "based mainly on positive results from good-quality placebo-controlled studies that enrolled approximately 1,200 patients." The author noted that "a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks were needed before a pronounced effect could be expected."

Ginkgo is also used clinically for several other ear complaints: Meniere's disease, labyrinthitis and trauma leading to hearing loss. With each of these difficult-to-treat conditions, it is ginkgo's ability to improve circulation--and its antioxidant activity--that provide the ingredients for cure.

Ginkgo and your eyes

Most eye specialists now agree: good nutrition plays a big role in long-term eye health. Eating well, drinking lots of water and taking antioxidants help keep vision strong and eye structures healthy far into old age.

Diabetic retinopathy. This is one disorder in which damage to the eye occurs, and is marked by alterations in eye structure, including: a thickening of retinal capillaries and an increased permeability of retinal tissue. Ultimately, these changes lead to vision problems, or blindness.

Ginkgo is a botanical strategy for long-term eye health, again because of its benefits to circulation, and its ability to act as a powerful free radical scavenger. In a 1992 article entitled "Oxidative stress in diabetic retina" by M. Doly, et al., ginkgo (EGb)-treated animals had significantly better retinal function (as measured by electroretinogram) than those animals which were not treated.

Scientists speculate that many diabetic retinal changes are caused at least, in part by oxidative stress, another term for damage caused by free radicals. Studies conducted on diabetic rats, and discussed in the aforementioned oxidative stress article, show that rats fed Ginkgo biloba extract were protected against oxidative stress to the eyes and suffered less retinal damage than animals not given ginkgo extract.

Human studies on the use of gingko in diabetic retinopathy are sorely lacking. However, these positive animal studies, we hope, are but a prelude to the exploration of ginkgo's effectiveness in treating the human retina. And despite the current lack of large human studies validating ginkgo for serious eye disorders, many holistic and herbal practitioners do already use ginkgo in treating patients with cataracts, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Remember that vision changes, eye pain or conditions like cataracts, macular degeneration or diabetes require the care of a physician. Don't substitute ginkgo for an eye exam or a visit to your doctor. But if you do have eye problems, talk to your health care provider about ginkgo, and find out if it may be a useful addition to your treatment regimen.

Circulation

As with disorders of the eyes and ears, problems with circulation can be effectively treated with Ginkgo biloba. Conditions such as Raynaud's disease, intermittent claudication, temporal arteritis and even erectile dysfunction respond well to ginkgo supplementation.

A 1992 European meta-analysis of five controlled clinical trials using Ginkgo biloba in the treatment of peripheral arterial diseases revealed a `highly significant therapeutic effect' from an extract of Ginkgo biloba in the treatment of these diseases. Patients taking gingko were able to substantially increase the distance they could walk in a standardized treadmill exercise, compared to the distance they could walk prior to initiating ginkgo therapy. Patients in the placebo group did not experience a similar gain in walking distance.