I’m sure many of you have seen the recent headlines,
“Ginkgo was found to have no impact on memory or learning in a group of healthy older adults who took it for six weeks while participating in one of the most scientifically rigorous studies ever done on the
supplement.” - lead researcher Paul R. Solomon, PhD.
Let me ask you a question, if your car was running in tip top condition, not a thing wrong with it and even though you just had a full tune up a few weeks ago, you decided to give it another tune up… would you notice the car running any better? Would you get better gas mileage? Of course the answer is; no. If the car is already doing what the car is supposed to do, you can’t get much improvement - same with the body.
As you see above the study was done with healthy older adults that had no cognitive (mental) problems.
Ginkgo Biloba (ginkgo or gingko – both are correct) is one of the most popular dietary supplements sold in the U.S., with sales topping $310 million in 1998. That alone makes me wonder about the design of this study. However, monetary issues aside, I think it’s very easy to see that this was a very poorly designed study. Gingko is not a super duper wonder drug that will make the average man smarter. (Even though women wish it worked that way.) Gingko is an herb that is used to help restore normal cognitive function. If you are already at normal, you’ve got nowhere to go.
I would also like to point out that this study, like almost all the studies being done on herbs now, was done on a single herb. While this may be standard Western protocol for drug testing… this is not how herbs are traditionally used in Oriental medicine.
China has a rich written history, including medicine. One of the oldest textbooks on herbal medicine dates back from at least 2,300 years ago. This text looks at the nature (we might say pharmacological activity) of over 360 different herbs. It is clear that certain herbs cannot be used to together because their combined effect could be too strong, they could form a poison, or they could cancel each other out. From this knowledge it becomes clear that for the best therapeutic effect herbs should be combined in a way to maximize the desired benefits and eliminate any unwanted side effects. For this reason Traditional Chinese Medicine does not rely on the use of single herbs but uses formulas to achieve maximum results. This is also just what Symmetry does.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Society, did receive criticism from even other Western researchers. “Steven DeKosky, MD, says the Solomon study is far from definitive, because it only looked at the supplement's effect in the short term in people who had no evidence of mental decline. He says it is more likely that the supplement works as an antioxidant, slowing down or preventing decline in brain function over time. DeKosky is with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.”
So it is very important for you, as a consumer, to be aware of the how and whys of studies like this. Certainly no one should allow one study to over ride hundreds of other studies, thousands of years of use, or your own clinical, practical evidence. Remember…
Symmetry’s Clarity is not gingko; it is a proven formula that uses gingko as one of the main herbs in a synergistic formula proven beneficial for thousands, the world over!
Dr. Mark R. Crapo, OMD, DAc, BS, LAc, CA
