Effect of gingo biloba on CHC abilities

If you are above 40+ years of age and are trying to sift through the sea of information on the use of vitamins and supplements to enhance/maitain your cognitive dignity (as you age), you might wnat to keep an eye out for the following "in press" journal article. Of particular interest to the readers of this blog was the organization of the experimental measures as per CHC theory (Gf, Glr, etc.) and, use of tests from a cognitive battery specifically designed as per this theoretical framework (WJ-R; conflict of disclosure...I'm a coauthor on the WJ III)

• Burns, N., Bryan, J., & Nettelbeck, T. (in press) Ginkgo biloba: No robust effect on cognitive abilities or mood in healthy young or older adults. Human Psychopharmacology

In general, in this 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, gingo biloba was not found to prouduce significant/robust improvement in cognitive performance on a wide range of cognitive ability measures (Gf, Gc, Glr, Gsm, Gs), executive function, attention and mood in 93 healthy older adults (55–79 years) and in 104 young adults (18–43 years). The one significant finding, in the older adult sample, was improvement in long-term memory (Glr) assessed by associational learning tasks (WJ-R Visual-Auditory Learning; WJ-R Delayed Recall--VAL) [d=0.52].

Of course....replication...replication...replication is in order. But, when I next find myself in a Walgreens/Walmart store, I just might pick up some gingo biloba as a preventative measure for any possible Glr decline in my personal cortex.


Technorati tags: ginko biloba. CHC theory. psychology. cognition. long-term retrieval.
Glr.