Special Edition: Botanicals
Ginkgo biloba
Ginkgo biloba is one of the herbal industry’s big players, with data from the ABC Herb Market Report for 2015 (using data from SPINS LLC, which collaborated with IRI, and the Nutrition Business Journal) putting the US Ginkgo market at an estimated $17.5 million ($4.7 million in the natural health foods channel, and $12.8 million in the food, drug and mass market channel).
Adulteration concerns have been reported for Ginkgo, with reports indicating that quercetin and rutin have been used to artificially enhance the flavonol glycoside content, while the relatively new practice of using extracts from Sophora japonica fruit (Japanese pagoda tree) have been reported (Journal of Functional Foods, 2011, Vol. 3, pp. 107-114 & Phytomedicine, 2014, Vol. 21, pp. 912–918)
Ginkgo is positioned for cognitive health, and a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by scientists at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine concluded that, “Ginkgo biloba is potentially beneficial for the improvement of cognitive function, activities of daily living, and global clinical assessment in patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease.” (Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 15: 1-9).
However, a 2012 meta-analysis by scientists at the University of Hertfordshire in England concluded that G. biloba, “had no ascertainable positive effects on a range of targeted cognitive functions in healthy individuals”. (Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, Vol. 27, pp. 527–533)
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