Complementary & Alternative Medicine for Mental Health

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OUTLINE

EFFICACY: NEUROPROTECTION, BUT NOT PREVENTION

SOURCES

CHALLENGING GINKGO

 THE 2008 NCCAM-FUNDED GINKGO EVALUATION OF MEMORY (GEM) STUDY

 THE 2009 COCHRANE COLLABORATION META-ANALYSIS OF GINKGO STUDIES

 GUIDAGE STUDY

CONCLUSIONS

SUGGESTED BUT UNPROVEN USES: PROTECTION AGAINST THE NEURAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY

ANTIPSYCHOTICS, DEPRESSION, ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD),

SCHIZOPHRENIA, AND SEXUAL SIDE EFFECTS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS

ADJUNCTIVE USE

DRUG INTERACTIONS

SIDE EFFECTS

DOSAGE

CONTAMINATION

RESEARCH

1. Common Names include ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba, fossil tree, maidenhair tree, Japanese silver
   apricot, baiguo, bai guo ye, kew tree, yinhsing (yin-hsing). Extracts are taken from the
   ginkgo leaf and are used to make tablets, capsules, or teas. In the past 30 years, methodical
   procedures of extraction and standardization among manufacturers and researchers has
   allowed the production of a highly concentrated and stable extract, EGb 761, which has
   been systematically studied in scientific programs.