Ginkgo
The Essentials
It doesn't prevent dementia in healthy people. A large six-year trial settled that.
Read the whole guide on one page →In people with existing cognitive (to do with thinking and memory) decline, standardised extract shows small benefits in some trials.
It has evidence for improving walking distance in poor leg circulation.
It thins the blood. This is the single most important safety point.
Ginkgo is the world's most-studied herbal extract for memory and circulation, but the results are genuinely mixed. Large, careful trials — including the GEM study, which followed over three thousand older adults for six years — found that ginkgo did not prevent dementia in healthy people. That question has a clear answer: no.
What Else to Know
Other trials in people who already have mild cognitive (to do with thinking and memory) problems or dementia found small improvements in daily function with a standardised extract. There's also reasonable evidence that ginkgo helps people with poor circulation in the legs walk farther. Think of it as a possible aid for specific circulation problems.
Known to botanists as Ginkgo biloba.