El ginkgo tiene una reputación mayor de la que respaldan los ensayos. Se vende para mantener la memoria despierta y frenar la demencia, y esta es la parte que la investigación ha puesto más a prueba y no confirma: los dos mayores ensayos de prevención, que en conjunto reclutaron a casi seis mil adultos mayores con una dosis estandarizada de 240 mg durante años, no hallaron reducción de la demencia ni ralentización del deterioro cognitivo normal. Las señales que se sostienen son más acotadas. En personas que ya tienen demencia, un extracto estandarizado aporta una mejora modesta en la cognición y la función diaria.
En los acúfenos y en el dolor de piernas por mala circulación los resultados son mixtos y pequeños. El punto de seguridad que hay que llevarse de todo esto es que el ginkgo diluye la sangre, lo que importa si tomas un anticoagulante o tienes una cirugía próxima. Aquí es donde se ubica cada afirmación.
Findings & Outcomes
What It Is
Ginkgo is an extract of the fan-shaped leaves of the ginkgo tree, one of the oldest tree species alive. Nearly all of the Western studies rely on a single well-defined preparation, a standardized leaf extract called EGb761, taken as a tablet somewhere between 120 and 240 mg a day. Most people meet it as a memory pill, and memory is the claim the trials have leaned on hardest.
Anatomy of the Practice
1In the small vessels
The extract mildly relaxes small blood vessels and makes red cells and platelets less sticky, so blood moves a little more easily through fine circulation. This is the property behind both the circulation research and the bleeding caution: the same effect that eases flow also thins the blood.
2In the tissues
The flavonoids in the leaf clear reactive oxygen and the terpene lactones block platelet-activating factor, a signaling molecule in clotting and inflammation. These were the mechanisms that made ginkgo a plausible candidate for protecting the aging brain and the inner ear.
3At the level of outcomes
A plausible mechanism is only a starting point. When the outcomes were measured, whether people developed dementia, whether memory held, or whether the ringing quieted, the mechanism did not translate into a large benefit.
How It Works
Everything ginkgo is sold to do traces back to one property: it improves circulation in fine vessels and eases oxidative stress in the tissue those vessels feed. That is genuine pharmacology. It is why the herb was once expected to help three organs at once: the brain as it ages, the inner ear, and the cardiovascular picture in the legs.
What a bottle contains matters as much as the biology. The prevention and dementia trials all leaned on the same standardized 240 mg preparation, so a loosely made jar that says nothing about standardization is simply not what was studied. That gap is much of why the supplement shelf and the trial record read so differently. The single most marketed use of all, quieting tinnitus, gets its own page tracing where that evidence lands.
What the Trials Found
Ginkgo arrived in the West carried by three things:
- a believable mechanism from its chemistry,
- decades of routine prescribing across Europe,
- and a run of encouraging early trials in memory clinics.
For years that was enough for the memory claim to be repeated as settled. Then prevention was tested directly, and the answer changed.
Two large, long trials went straight at prevention. The Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory study put 3,069 older adults on 240 mg a day for about six years. It recorded no drop in the rate of new dementia and no slowing of ordinary cognitive decline. GuidAge, run in France, gave 2,854 older adults who already had memory complaints the same extract for five years and found no reduction in progression to Alzheimer disease. Two prevention trials of this size and length landing on the same result is about as clear as this kind of question gets.
For holding off dementia in a healthy or worried older adult, ginkgo did not do it.
Drop below prevention and the ground shifts. In people who already carry a dementia diagnosis, a meta-analysis of the standardized 240 mg extract found modest gains in cognition and in the activities of daily living against placebo. A broader Cochrane review of the dementia literature was less impressed. It judged the overall evidence inconsistent and hard to lean on, with the steadier signals bunched at the higher 240 mg dose.
The two other marketed uses come out thinner. In tinnitus, a Cochrane review found the standardized extract did not clearly help people whose main trouble was the ringing itself. For the leg pain of intermittent claudication, an early meta-analysis logged a small gain in pain-free walking distance. A later Cochrane review that pooled more trials found no meaningful edge over placebo.
Vertigo is the one peripheral use with a firmer signal. In a 12-week randomized trial of 160 adults with vertigo, EGb 761 at 240 mg a day held even with betahistine, a standard prescription for dizziness. Clinicians rated 79 percent of the ginkgo group much or very much improved against 70 percent on the drug, with fewer side effects. This trial set EGb 761 against betahistine and ran no placebo arm. Its funding came from the extract's maker. What EGb 761 shows here is a tie with an accepted drug, not a win over a dummy pill.
Read together, the trials place ginkgo like this:
- It does not prevent dementia or sharpen a healthy memory.
- It gives a modest lift to the symptoms of dementia already present.
- It roughly matches a standard drug for vertigo, on the strength of one trial with no placebo arm.
- It does little to nothing dependable for tinnitus or the leg pain of claudication.
The Research & Studies
Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.
Cognition
Ninguna reducción en la demencia con 240 mg al día durante seis años en 3069 adultos mayores
Tomar un extracto estandarizado de ginkgo a diario durante aproximadamente seis años no redujo la probabilidad de desarrollar demencia en comparación con una pastilla placebo.
El estudio Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) aleatorizó a 3069 adultos que vivían en la comunidad, de 75 años o más, con cognición normal o deterioro cognitivo leve al inicio, a 120 mg de EGb761 estandarizado dos veces al día (240 mg en total) o placebo, y los siguió durante una mediana de 6.1 años. No hubo diferencia en la tasa de incidencia de demencia ni de demencia tipo Alzheimer entre los grupos. Este es el mayor y más largo ensayo de prevención con ginkgo.
Who this may not transfer to:Tested in adults 75 and older; it measured whether ginkgo prevents dementia, not whether it treats established dementia.
The study · 1
DeKosky 2008, JAMA · JAMA
La memoria y el pensamiento declinaron al mismo ritmo que con el placebo en 3069 adultos mayores
El declive cotidiano de la memoria y el pensamiento que viene con la edad avanzó al mismo ritmo, tanto si los adultos mayores tomaban ginkgo estandarizado como una pastilla placebo.
Un análisis preespecificado de la cohorte GEM (3069 adultos de 72 a 96 años) comparó la tasa de declive cognitivo entre 240 mg al día de EGb761 estandarizado y placebo mediante una batería de pruebas neuropsicológicas. No hubo diferencia en la trayectoria de ningún dominio cognitivo a lo largo de una mediana de 6.1 años de seguimiento. Esto aborda la afirmación popular de que el ginkgo mantiene ágil una mente que envejece de forma saludable.
Who this may not transfer to:Adults 72 and older with healthy or mildly impaired cognition; it does not test younger users.
The study · 1
Snitz 2009, JAMA · JAMA
Ningún menor número de diagnósticos de Alzheimer a lo largo de 5 años en 2854 adultos con quejas de memoria
En adultos mayores que habían notado problemas de memoria, cinco años de ginkgo estandarizado no redujeron cuántos desarrollaron después la enfermedad de Alzheimer.
El ensayo GuidAge aleatorizó a 2854 adultos franceses de 70 años o más que habían informado espontáneamente quejas de memoria a su médico, a 120 mg de EGb761 estandarizado dos veces al día o placebo durante cinco años. La conversión a probable enfermedad de Alzheimer no difirió significativamente entre los grupos. El resultado corrobora el hallazgo de prevención del GEM en una población y un país diferentes.
Who this may not transfer to:Older European adults who already noticed memory changes; it repeats the US prevention result in a different country.
The study · 1
Vellas 2012, Lancet Neurol · Lancet Neurol
Una pequeña ganancia en la cognición y la función diaria con 240 mg al día en personas que ya tienen demencia
Para las personas que ya tienen demencia, un extracto estandarizado de ginkgo a 240 mg al día dio una mejora modesta en el pensamiento y en el manejo de las tareas diarias en comparación con una pastilla placebo.
Una revisión sistemática y metaanálisis que combinó nueve ensayos aleatorizados controlados con placebo (2561 pacientes) de ginkgo en el deterioro cognitivo y la demencia encontró que el EGb761 a 240 mg al día produjo mejoras estadísticamente significativas en la cognición y en las actividades de la vida diaria en relación con el placebo, con efectos más claros en la dosis más alta. El beneficio está en tratar los síntomas de la demencia ya establecida, una cuestión diferente de los ensayos de prevención, y el efecto es modesto.
Who this may not transfer to:Applies to people who already carry a dementia diagnosis, not to healthy adults hoping to prevent it.
The study · 1
Tan 2015, J Alzheimers Dis · J Alzheimers Dis
Combinada en 36 ensayos, la evidencia sobre la demencia es inconsistente y poco fiable
Cuando se leen juntos todos los ensayos sobre el ginkgo y la demencia, los resultados discrepan entre sí lo suficiente como para que no se pueda extraer una conclusión firme.
Una revisión sistemática Cochrane que combinó 36 ensayos de ginkgo para el deterioro cognitivo y la demencia concluyó que la evidencia era inconsistente y poco fiable, señalando que, aunque algunos ensayos, en particular con dosis más altas, informaron beneficios, el conjunto de la evidencia en su totalidad no respaldaba un efecto clínico predecible. Esta es la razón para no confiar en ningún metaanálisis positivo aislado.
Who this may not transfer to:A judgment on the whole trial base for cognitive impairment and dementia, not one study.
The study · 1
Birks 2009, Cochrane Database Syst Rev · Cochrane Database Syst Rev
Hearing And Tinnitus
Ningún alivio claro cuando el zumbido en los oídos es la queja principal, en 12 ensayos
Para las personas cuyo principal problema es el zumbido en los oídos, el ginkgo estandarizado no redujo claramente el zumbido ni el malestar que causa.
Una revisión Cochrane sobre el ginkgo para el acúfeno combinó 12 ensayos aleatorizados controlados con placebo (1915 participantes) y no encontró evidencia clara de que el ginkgo reduzca la gravedad del acúfeno cuando este es el síntoma principal de presentación, calificando la certeza de la evidencia como baja. Algunos ensayos más antiguos en los que el acúfeno era un síntoma secundario de otra afección forman una literatura aparte y más débil.
Who this may not transfer to:People whose main complaint is the ringing itself, not tinnitus that is a symptom of another condition.
The study · 1
Sereda 2022, Cochrane Database Syst Rev · Cochrane Database Syst Rev
Heart And Vascular
Ninguna ganancia fiable en la distancia de marcha en 14 ensayos combinados
Cuando se añadieron más ensayos, el ginkgo estandarizado no ayudó de forma significativa a las personas con dolor en las piernas por mala circulación a caminar más lejos de lo que lo hacía una pastilla placebo.
Una revisión Cochrane sobre el ginkgo para la claudicación intermitente combinó 14 ensayos aleatorizados controlados con placebo (739 participantes) y concluyó que no había evidencia de un beneficio clínicamente significativo en la distancia de marcha sin dolor o máxima. Esta revisión posterior y más amplia sustituye al metaanálisis positivo anterior y apunta a la ausencia de un efecto fiable.
Who this may not transfer to:Adults with peripheral arterial disease; the larger, later pooling of the walking-distance trials.
The study · 1
Nicolai 2013, Cochrane Database Syst Rev · Cochrane Database Syst Rev
Unos 112 pies (34 metros) más de marcha sin dolor en un conjunto temprano de 8 ensayos
En personas con dolor en las piernas por mala circulación, los primeros ensayos combinados sugirieron que el ginkgo les permitía caminar un poco más antes de que empezara el dolor.
Un metaanálisis de 8 ensayos aleatorizados controlados con placebo encontró que el ginkgo produjo un aumento modesto y estadísticamente significativo en la distancia de marcha sin dolor en la claudicación intermitente en comparación con el placebo, una diferencia de medias ponderada de 112 pies (34 metros) (IC del 95 %: 26 a 43). La ganancia absoluta fue pequeña y los autores señalaron que los ensayos eran modestos en tamaño y calidad, por lo que lo trataron como una señal preliminar que trabajos posteriores tendrían que confirmar.
Who this may not transfer to:Adults with peripheral arterial disease; an early signal the larger later review did not confirm.
The study · 1
Pittler 2000, Am J Med · Am J Med
Vestibular
Matched betahistine, a standard vertigo drug, over 12 weeks in a 160-patient trial
For vertigo, standardized ginkgo held its own against betahistine, a common prescription for dizziness. In a 12-week trial the two worked about equally, and ginkgo caused fewer side effects.
A randomized, double-blind trial (Sokolova 2014, Int J Otolaryngol) gave 160 adults with vertigo, mean age 58, either EGb 761 at 240 mg a day or betahistine at 32 mg a day for 12 weeks. Both groups improved on all outcome measures, including a vertigo symptom scale and clinician global impression, with no significant difference between them, and the ginkgo group's gains were numerically slightly larger. Clinicians rated 79% of the EGb 761 group and 70% of the betahistine group much or very much improved, and EGb 761 caused fewer adverse events. The limit that matters is that the trial had no placebo arm, so the improvement in both groups also includes the natural settling of vertigo over time; what it shows is that ginkgo matched an accepted drug, not that it beat placebo.
Who this may not transfer to:Middle-aged and older adults with vertigo; the comparison is against an active drug, not placebo.
For vertigo specifically, standardized EGb 761 is one of the better-supported ginkgo uses, but the cause of the dizziness should be assessed first, and the bleeding cautions still apply.
The study · 1
Sokolova 2014, Int J Otolaryngol · Int J Otolaryngol 2014;2014:682439
Ways to Do It
Match what you do to what you want. If the goal is protecting your memory for the years ahead, the strongest levers are not ginkgo, so the first rung is free. If the goal is trying a standardized extract for symptoms that already exist, the later rungs cover how to do that sensibly.
For keeping a mind sharp into later life, the best-supported levers are keeping blood pressure controlled, moving most days, sleeping well, staying socially and mentally engaged, and not smoking. None of these is ginkgo, and together they carry far more evidence than any supplement for brain aging.
The research record is built on the EGb761-type standardized extract, made to about 24 percent flavone glycosides and 6 percent terpene lactones. A product labeled only ginkgo, with no standardization stated, has not been studied to the same degree. An independent testing mark on the label is one more sign of what you are actually getting.
The modest benefit in people who already have dementia showed up at 240 mg a day of the standardized extract, taken for several weeks before judging it. Pair it with a proper medical assessment of the memory change, so the cause is found and tracked. It also carries the bleeding cautions below, so your prescriber should know you take it.
If you are healthy and hoping to hold off decline, the two large trials point away from ginkgo doing that. Spending the effort on the first rung will do more for the same goal.
The trials that saw any symptom benefit ran for weeks to months, so a few days tells you nothing. If you try it, give it eight to twelve weeks at the standardized 240 mg dose, then judge with your prescriber whether anything has changed.
Go Deeper
- Tinnitus: the full evidence on what does and does not quiet the ringing.
- Omega-3 and fish oil: another supplement whose big trials rewrote a confident popular claim, a useful companion for reading past a headline.
The Chinese Medicine View
Chinese medicine and the Western supplement draw on different parts of the same tree. The pharmacy shelf sells the leaf; the classical Chinese drug is the seed inside the fruit, Bai Guo, and it is put to a completely different job.
Bai Guo has a long standing in the materia medica. It is classed as astringent and used chiefly to bind the Lung and quiet wheezing. That places it among the herbs for cough and asthma, with no classical tie to memory or circulation. The seed appears in the classic wheezing formula Ding Chuan Tang, and it also handles leukorrhea and frequent urination. The tradition doses it carefully, treating the raw seed as toxic and allowing only small, prepared amounts. The leaf, by contrast, is a fairly recent arrival in Chinese practice and carries none of the deep classical record the seed does.
The two accounts never meet, and forcing one to explain the other would be invention. One tradition reasoned about a seed that astringes the Lung and must be handled carefully because it is toxic raw. Western labs studied a leaf extract for the brain and circulation and found the memory claim mostly hollow. Same plant, different part, different purpose.
Cautions For This Practice
Extra restraintEverything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.
Sangrado espontáneo grave en 15 casos notificados, especialmente con anticoagulantes
Un informe de caso y una revisión sistemática de la literatura identificaron 15 casos publicados de sangrado asociado con el ginkgo, incluidos 8 episodios de hemorragia intracraneal y sangrado en el ojo, varios en personas que también tomaban fármacos antiplaquetarios o anticoagulantes. El mecanismo es la inhibición del factor activador de plaquetas por parte del ginkgo, lo que reduce la agregación plaquetaria. Los ensayos controlados sobre la función plaquetaria han sido menos consistentes, pero la evidencia de casos y el mecanismo juntos justifican la cautela en torno a los anticoagulantes y la cirugía.Bent 2005, J Gen Intern Med
Bleeding, blood thinners and surgery
Ginkgo makes platelets less sticky and blocks platelet-activating factor, so it thins the blood. Documented cases of spontaneous bleeding, including into the eye and the brain, have occurred in people taking it. Take it seriously if you use warfarin, aspirin, clopidogrel or any other blood thinner. The same holds if you have a bleeding disorder, or surgery or dental work coming up. Tell your prescriber. Stopping ginkgo one to two weeks before planned surgery is standard.
The raw seed and seizures
The traditional Chinese drug is the seed, Bai Guo. The raw or undercooked seed contains a compound that can trigger seizures when eaten in quantity, with children most at risk. This warns against eating raw ginkgo seeds. It does not apply to the standardized leaf extract, which is processed to remove most of that compound. The plant and the word are the same even though the products differ, so the seed caution often gets misapplied to the supplement.
Product quality and adulteration
Ginkgo is among the more frequently adulterated botanicals on the market, sometimes bulked with cheaper flavonoids so a lab test looks right. A product that does not state EGb761-type standardization, or carry an independent testing mark, may not be what the trials studied or what the label claims. This is the quality variable most within your control.
Allergy and ginkgolic acids
Poorly processed extracts can retain ginkgolic acids, relatives of the compounds in poison ivy that cause allergic skin and mucous-membrane reactions. People sensitive to those plants, and anyone who reacts to a ginkgo product, should avoid it. A properly standardized extract keeps these acids low.
Pregnancy, and when a memory change needs a doctor
There is little safety data in pregnancy, and the blood-thinning effect is a further reason to avoid ginkgo then. Separately, a new or worsening memory problem should be assessed medically; the treatable causes are worth finding, and ginkgo did not prevent dementia in the trials that tested it.
Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.
Common Questions
Should I take ginkgo for my memory?
For a healthy person, the evidence runs the other way. The Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory and GuidAge trials looked for less dementia and slower decline in older adults and found neither. The reputation held for years; the prevention result behind the memory claim came back empty. Trying ginkgo anyway is a fair personal call, made with that result in view.
If the trials were negative, why is ginkgo still sold for memory?
Because a reputation outlives the studies that test it. Ginkgo's name was made over years of routine European use, long before the two big prevention trials existed. Marketing carried it forward on the strength of real leaf chemistry, which still makes the story sound plausible on a shelf. The claim on the label simply outran what later trials could show.
Does ginkgo help with dizziness or vertigo?
Yes, and it is ginkgo's best-supported use outside the brain. In one company-funded trial it kept pace with betahistine, a standard dizziness drug, though that trial had no placebo group to beat. So it looks about as good as an accepted treatment, on thin evidence. Vertigo has many causes, so have yours checked before treating it, and mind the bleeding cautions above if you take a blood thinner.
Is ginkgo safe to take with blood thinners?
Treat this as the main safety question with ginkgo. It reduces platelet stickiness, so on top of warfarin, aspirin or clopidogrel it can push bleeding risk higher, and case reports include serious spontaneous bleeds. The same concern applies before surgery or dental work, where stopping one to two weeks ahead is routine. If you use any blood thinner or have a bleeding disorder, clear ginkgo with your prescriber before starting.
Explore Related
Other pages this one connects to, by the evidence they share, the outcomes they touch, and the ground they cover.
All 10 sources on this page independently checked and cross-referenced.
Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus
Sacred Lotus has published Chinese medicine reference material since 2001. Integrative pages are held to the same standard as the herb and formula library: cite the source, grade the claim at its real strength, and say where the research has not looked. This page is educational and it is not medical advice. Last reviewed and updated August 9, 2026.
Evidence strength
How confidently the research supports a claim. Strength describes the evidence, not our endorsement.