Ginkgo Biloba - Medicinal Uses

Medicinal Uses

Extracts of ginkgo leaves contain flavonoid glycosides (myricetin and quercetin) and terpenoids (ginkgolides, bilobalides) and have been used pharmaceutically. These extracts are shown to exhibit reversible, nonselective monoamine oxidase inhibition, as well as inhibition of reuptake at the serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine transporters, with all but the norepinephrine reuptake inhibition fading in chronic exposure. Ginkgo supplements are usually taken in the range of 40–200 mg per day. Recently, a meta-analysis of clinical trials has shown Ginkgo to be moderately effective in improving cognition in dementia patients but not preventing the onset of Alzheimer's disease in normal people.

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