250 CHAPTER 6
Gingko Biloba
The gingko biloba supplement is an extract from the leaf of the gingko biloba tree. The
Chinese have used this supplement for thousands of years to improve various aspects of
health, and you might think that anything that people have used for that long must work,
right? But think about other reasons that people might continue to use a dietary supplement
that have little or nothing to do with actual health results. It’s a cultural habit and tradition, for
example. People may take the supplement and think they feel better or think better because
of the placebo effect. to Learning Objective 1.9. The only way to really know if
gingko biloba actually has any positive effect on memory is to look at the scientific research.
So what does the research say? There are numerous studies over the past decade
that strongly indicate the failure of gingko biloba supplements in improving memory in
healthy people or in preventing dementia-related memory problems such as those found in
Alzheimer’s disease (Birks & Evans, 2009; Cooper et al., 2013; Laws et al., 2012; Mancuso
et al., 2012; Snitz et al., 2009). A large review of current research did find that the extract
may slow the decline in cognitive abilities, including memory, for people who already have
symptoms of dementia (Tan et al., 2015). The conclusion: Don’t bother with this supple-
ment unless you actually have dementia, and even then your doctor should be monitoring
you for possible side effects. This supplement can change your insulin levels, make bleed-
ing harder to stop, increase bruising, blur vision, cause any number of gastric distress
symptoms, affect your sense of taste, cause fluid retention—the list goes on.
Coconut Oil and Fish Oil
Another popular type of supplement is coconut oil, an extract from the meat of coconuts
that is high in saturated fat. While there are many health claims for this supplement, the one
we will examine is the claim that consuming coconut oil can treat and even cure Alzhei-
mer’s disease. This claim is based on the idea that people with Alzheimer’s disease have
neurons in their brains that cannot use glucose (blood sugar) properly, leading to “starving”
brain cells. Coconut oil is supposed to provide an alternative energy source for these cells,
but at the present time the scientific evidence has yielded mixed results (Connor et al.,
2012; Naqvi, et al., 2013). There is a clinical trial going on now in the United States, but the
results will not be available until 2017.
So is it safe to take coconut oil? It is a saturated fat, and high cholesterol levels may occur
with the accompanying increased risk of stroke, heart disease, and—ironically—dementia.
