At the start of the study, 48 participants were randomly assigned to either a Ginkgo biloba extract or placebo control group.

To evaluate participants’ cognitive and behavioral functioning, series of neuropsychological tests were administered to them prior to the initiation of the Ginkgo biloba extract/placebo therapy and again, just prior to the termination of the treatment regimen (after six weeks).

What did the researchers find out?

Participants who received 180 mg of Ginkgo biloba extract daily for six weeks exhibited significantly more improvement on a task assessing speed of processing abilities by the end of treatment as compared to participants who received placebo.

Improved performances in the Ginkgo biloba group were also observed in three of the four remaining tasks that involved a timed, speed of processing component, although they did not reach statistical significance.

Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between the type of treatment (Ginkgo biloba extract or placebo) and participants’ ratings of their overall abilities to remember.

Specifically, more participants in the Ginkgo biloba extract group rated their overall abilities to remember by the end of treatment as “improved” as compared to the placebo group. In contrast, no significant differences were found between the Ginkgo biloba and placebo groups by treatment end on any of the four objective memory measures.

A previous study also found patients diagnosed with mild to moderate dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, who took 240mg of Ginkgo a day for six months had better memory and cognitive function than those taking a placebo.

However, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn at this point. Research is limited and other studies have failed to produce the same results.

For example, a 2012 review of research on this relationship concluded that supplementing with Ginkgo did not result in any measurable improvements in memory, executive function, or attention capacity.

More studies are therefore needed.