The researchers made a three-year study on 118 people with no memory problem, aged over 85. Half of them took 240 mg of ginkgo biloba extract daily and half took placebo.
The study, published in February 27 online Neurology, found that 21 people got mild memory problems, 14 of those took the placebo and 7 the ginkgo biloba extract. The difference was not statistically significant.
Researchers also found that people taking ginkgo had mini-strokes, while those taking placebo did not.
"Seven had TIAs (transient ischemic attacks, or mini-strokes) or stroke," said study author Dr. Hiroko Dodge, an assistant professor of public health at Oregon State University.
Study also revealed that ginkgo causes bleeding-related complications but the strokes in this study were because of blood clots and not excessive bleeding.
Dr. Dodge added that the results will be clarified by further studies and that the findings were interesting since the ginkgo biloba is already widely used, readily available and inexpensive.
